Family members, lawyers and supporters of Abousfian Abdelrazik are delighted with today's Federal Court order directing the Federal government to issue Mr. Abdelrazik an emergency passport and to arrange transportation for his return to Montreal within thirty days.
The ruling found that Mr. Abdelrazik’s Charter right to enter Canada had been breached. The full decision can be found here:

[link]

However, Project Fly Home strongly agrees with the judge's remark that the breach "was done in bad faith".

To prepare against the possibility of more of the same bad faith, Project Fly Home is calling on all organizations and individual supporters to TAKE ACTION NOW to hold the government to the court order - before they have time to come up with more excuses.

As you know, the ticket that over 100 people from across Canada bought for Abousfian has been re-scheduled for 12 June. We suggest that this might be the easiest means for the government to bring Abousfian home promptly, in compliance with the court order. (However, if the government choses to bring Abousfian home more quickly than that, it is certainly welcome to do so!) At the same time, the civil society delegation slated to leave Montreal for Khartoum on Monday, June 8th to escort Abousfian home on June 12th has been postponed, but remains on standby.

PLEASE IMMEDIATELY:

1) Write to Minister Lawrence Cannon, copying Stephen Harper and your MP, asking him to comply with the court order to bring Abousfian Abdelrazik back to Montreal and suggesting that the government make use of the ticket that Abousfian already has for 12 June.

Lawrence Cannon
Telephone: (613) 992-5516
Fax: (613) 992-6802
Email: -email-

Stephen Harper
Telephone: (613) 992-4211
Fax: (613) 941-6900
Email: -email-

Contact details of MPs via [link] (click on "Members of Parliament (Current)").

2) If you are an organization, make this letter/statement available to your media contacts and post it on your website.

3) If you are in Montreal, please come out to the Kite Rally on 10 June at noon, Peel and Ste-Catherine's, to call on Lawrence Cannon to bow to popular opinion, the will of Parliament, the Federal Court of Canada, and basic justice and humanity and let Abousfian come home on 12 June. (Outside Montreal: check the events section of our website for events in other cities or get in touch with the local contact in your area, [link] )

4) Please circulate this appeal in your networks. You can refer people to [link] for background information and updates.

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SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS OF THE DECISION:
[156] I have found that Canada has engaged in a course of conduct and specific acts that constitute a breach of Mr. Abdelrazik's right to enter Canada. Specifically, I find:

(i) That CSIS was complicit in the detention of Mr. Abdelrazik by the Sudanese authorities in 2003;

(ii) That by mid 2004 Canadian authorities had determined that they would not take any active steps to assist Mr. Abdelrazik to return to Canada and, in spite of its numerous assurances to the contrary, would consider refusing him an emergency passport if that was required in order to ensure that he could not return to Canada;

(iii) That there is no impediment from the UN Resolution to Mr. Abdelrazik being repatriated to Canada - no permission of a foreign government is required to transit through its airspace - and the respondents' assertion to the contrary is a part of the conduct engaged in to ensure that Mr. Abdelrazik could not return to Canada; and

(iv) That Canada's denial of an emergency passport on April 3, 2009, after all of the preconditions for the issuance of an emergency passport previously set by Canada had been met, is a breach of his Charter right to enter Canada, and it has not been shown to be saved under section 1 of the Charter.

_______________

THE COURT'S ORDER:
THIS COURT ORDERS AND ADJUDGES that:

1. This application is allowed;

2. The applicant’s right to enter Canada has been breached contrary to subsection 6(1) of the Charter;

3. The respondents are directed to issue the applicant an emergency passport in order that he may return to and enter Canada;

4. The respondents, after consultation with the applicant, are to arrange transportation for the applicant from Khartoum to Montreal, Canada such that he arrives in Canada no later than 30 days from the date hereof;

5. Should such travel arrangements not be in place within 15 days of the date hereof, the parties shall advise the Court and an immediate hearing shall be held at which time the Court reserves the right to issue such further Orders as are deemed necessary in order to ensure the transportation to and safe arrival of the applicant in Canada within 30 days of this Judgment, or such longer period as this Court then finds to be necessary in the circumstances;

6. In fulfilment of this judicial process, the applicant is ordered to appear before me at 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at the Federal Court at 30 McGill Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada or, at the option of the applicant on five days advance notice to
the Court and respondents, at 90 Sparks Street Ottawa, Ontario, or at such other location as is subsequently fixed by the Court, subject to an extension of that date on application by either party and upon the Court being satisfied that through no fault of the respondents it is
not possible or practicable for the applicant to appear at the date and time set.



Project Fly Home
-email-
[link]

The following organizations support the public campaign to bring Abousfian
Abdelrazik home:

Canadian Labour Congress
No one is illegal Ottawa
International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
PeaceWorks, Sarnia, Ontario
Peaceworks, Midland, Ontario
People for Peace, London
Council of Canadians | London
Educators for Justice - Waterloo Region Catholic School Board
Camp Micah: Leadership for Peace and Justice
Polaris Institute
Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
Boundary Peace Initiative
Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Canadian Peace Alliance
Bengali Students Association of the University of Waterloo
Fredericton Peace Coalition
Advocacy Collective, Fredericton
Rassemblement Outaouais contre la guerre (ROCG)
Tikkun Toronto
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Nowar-Paix
Bathurst United Church, Toronto
The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
Toronto Action for Social Change
People's Commission Network
Rights Action
Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP)
Apatrides Anonymes
No One Is Illegal Toronto
OPIRG-Carleton
Windsor Peace Coalition
Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance
Exile Infoshop
The Voice of Women (Ontario), Letter Writing Group
Student Coalition Against War, Ottawa U
Solidarity Across Borders
No One Is Illegal-Montreal
Ottawa Raging Grannies
Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN)
Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa
Ligue des droits et libertés
Tadamon! Montreal
Anti-War@Laurier (AW@L)
Unitarian Universalists Windsor Region
Muslim Students Association of the University of Victoria
Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW)
Canadian Islamic Congress
South Asian Women's Community Centre (SAWCC)
Immigrant Workers Center
Hamilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Montreal Chapter of the Council of Canadians
Le DIRA
Ici la Otra campaña - Montreal
La Pointe Libertaire
No one is illegal Vancouver
Windsor District Labour Council
OPIRG-Ottawa
Council of Canadians - Peterborough and Kawarthas chapter
Muslim Council of Montreal
Conseil Central de Montréal Métropolitain - CSN
Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
Comité Justice sociale des Soeurs Auxiliatrices
PINAY
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT)
Collectif Échec à la guerre
Présence Musulmane Montréal
Nonviolent Resource Centre
Council of Canadians - Grand River chapter
Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Green Party of Canada
QPIRG Concordia
Astrolabe
2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy
Student Christian Movement of Canada
Canadian Arab Federation
Council of Canadians
Les Artistes pour la paix
Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada