Statement of the Congress of North American Bosniaks, Canadian Branch and the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada regarding Statement of the Foreign Minister of Canada Lawrence Cannon the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre

Statement  of the Congress of North American Bosniaks, Canadian Branch and the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada regarding Statement of the Foreign Minister of Canada  Lawrence Cannon the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre

 

 

Statement of the Foreign Minister of Canada  Lawrence Cannon commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre is a last minute attempt to stave off the embarrassment and shame that the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper blocked an agreement to pass a motion M – 416 in the House of Commons, which is the only officially sanctioned forum where “Canada” acts as a country.

 

 Even though the Foreign Minister is quoted in a government statement acknowledging the Srebrenica genocide and the war crimes, it has to be evenly more strongly condemned that his own Prime Minister blocked what he is issuing the in the statement being passed in the House of Commons. Since passing a motion in the House of Commons is the only thing that has historic, moral, legislative, and legal meaning. The Congress of North American Bosniaks, Canadian Branch and the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada will continue to campaign until the Motion, M – 416 and the Bill, C – 533 not be passed in Canadian Parliament.

 

The government/the Minister is feeling the pressure from the Canadian – Bosniak Community’s effective lobbying, emailing and letter campaign. This is the result of all the hard work everyone has put in from across a segments of the Bosniaks entire Bosniak Community.

 

The Bosniak-Canadian community has, over the past five years, engaged in democratic discourse in their collective capacity as human rights advocates and in doing so attempted to cause the members of Parliament and Canadian government to finally, and officially, recognize that the crime of genocide had been perpetrated against Bosnia and Herzegovina and, in particular, against Bosniaks and specifically Bosniaks in Srebrenica, which crime has been well attested to by the eyes of the world and also  confirmed by international judicial institutions.

 

Those, whose human rights, civil liberties and freedoms were denied by way of wild, abandoned terrorism and armed force, all of which was based upon religious and national hatred, have turned to the elected representatives of the people of Canada in asking them for support in their noble quest for truth and justice by officially marking July 11th as “Remembrance Day” for the victims of the most gruesome crime human beings are able to perpetrate against other human beings – the crime of genocide (in direct contravention of everything declared within the ’Human Rights Act’). One aim of the Congress of North American Bosniaks and Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada being the sincere hope that this heinous crime will never to be forgotten – and moreover, never be perpetrated against others.

 

The survivors of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina have, over the past five years, submitted ten letters to each member of Parliament and twenty to each Minister of the government of Canada, asking for truth and justice in the name of all victims of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina – and in particular, genocide in Srebrenica. A majority of members, comprising the political parties represented in the Parliament of Canada, including in their caucuses, have pledged their support for a motion recognizing the 11th of July as the official “Remembrance Day” for all victims of genocide in Srebrenica.

 

At the time when the historic allies of Canada: the United States and the European Union have, in their respective legislative bodies, formally marked the day of July 11th as the day of remembrance for the victims of genocide in Srebrenica. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has wilfully locked himself into a cavemen’s abode, thus positioning the Parliament and government of Canada onto a path of collision with the values of civility and our common inheritance of constitutional and lawful societal arrangements.

 

 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has elevated himself above the highest judicial institutions in the world which have ruled that the crime perpetrated in Srebrenica was, indeed, genocide. Premier Stephen Harper has elevated himself above the victims of the most gruesome crime, the crime of genocide.

 

Mr. Stephen Harper: Parameters of decency require that you apologize to all Canadians, but particularly to victims of the crime of genocide that occured in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the worst crimes of their kind since the WWll Holocaust in Europe) and all Friends of Justice and Truth for not respectfully recognising that genocide was perpetrated against the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in particular, that genocide which was carried out against Bosniaks in Srebrenica.

 

Mr. Stephen Harper: the cruel and inhumane acts of genocide carried out against Srebrenica’s civilian Bosniak population are not  matters of mere opinion, they were judicial facts, first recognized by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and subsequently by the International Court of Justice.

 

Mr. Stephen Harper: There can be no negotiation about the acts of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially those which were carried out in Srebrenica.

 

The Congress of North American Bosniaks, Canadian Branch and the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada continue struggle until the motion M – 416 and Bill C – 533 and are passed in the House of Commons. Unless the truth of the genocidal aggression is accepted, and our Bosniak ethnicity recognized, the CNAB and the IRGC will not be negotiating with any Canadian political body.

 

Professor Emir Ramic

Congress of North American Bosniaks, Canadian Branch

Institute for Research of Genocide Canada

 

Thanks to the Bosniak community in Canada

On behalf of the Congress of North American Bosniaks Canadian Branch, and on behalf of the Institute for Research of Genocide, I would like to thank everyone who organized three events of the Srebrenica Genocide Commemoration Week in Toronto, 15 years after the Srebrenica genocide occurred. I have to say that this has been by far the best and most memorable set of events that the Canadian – Bosniak Community has ever hosted in honour of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, and I am very proud. Not only am I proud to see members of the Bosniak community volunteer their time and efforts to put these wonderful events together, I also have so much respect for members of both of these organizations and all that they have done for Canadian Bosniaks to date.

 

Our goal is to fight for truth and justice, and to educate the Canadian public about the genocide and the aggression against the Bosniak ethnicity and nation during the war that lasted from 1992 to 1995. More specifically, at this moment we are asking the Canadian government to officially recognize July 11th as Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day and to hold a Bosnia and Herzegovina Tribute week here in Canada. Lobbying for this Remembrance Day for the last year under the direction of the CNAB and the IRCG we have seen first-hand the ups and downs with this resolution. For those who are not completely familiar with our cause, we will provide you with some background information:

 

For the last five years the CNAB and IRGC shave been lobbying for an official remembrance day here in Canada. Last August, Mr. Brian Masse, MP for Windsor West sponsored the resolution, which came to be known as motion M-416. On June 18th, 2010 Prime Minister Harper vetoed this motion, even though the NDPs, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Quebecois and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon were had already voted in favour of it. Mr. Harper does not believe the words “genocide” and “Bosniak” should be in the resolution and despite forensic evidence from international organizations, he believes the number of dead is lower than the 8,732 stated in the motion. We were told that if we remove the word genocide, and the word |Bosniak, the motion can go through. However, the CNAB and the IRGC cannot and do not accept these terms – and rightfully so. Unless the truth of the genocidal aggression is accepted, and our Bosniak ethnicity recognized, the CNAB and the IRGC will not be negotiating with any Canadian political body.

 

This is not to say that we are at the end of the line. This is just the beginning. The amount of solidarity and support we witnessed from the Canadian Bosniak Community just during these past few days really shows how much people really care about justice for Srebrenica victims.

Emir Ramic