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CANADA PARTICIPATES IN AN ORGY OF HATE AT UN CONFERENCE

REAL Women is pleased that we did not participate in the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. This was one of our better decisions for sure!

Not that this conclusion was apparent to us at first, as we had arranged to be accredited to attend the government conference, as well as the parallel non-government organization (NGOs) conference. Our initial reason for attending the conference was our concern that the conference would use the "Related Intolerances" in the conference platform as an excuse to attack organized religions for their supposed "intolerance" against women by denying them universal access to abortion, and by denying homosexuals full recognition of their lifestyle.

These latter issues were the initial objectives (although unstated) of the conference, which was led by its feminist Secretary-General, and former Irish President, Mary Robinson, who is also the Executive Director of the UN's Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Ms. Robinson's agenda, however, was swiftly disposed of by the African and Arab nations, which had an entirely different set of objectives for the conference. Namely, they wanted both compensation for western support and participation in the 19th century slave trade, and condemnation of the State of Israel for its Zionist policies, which the Arab nations interpreted as being racist.

These latter issues rapidly took precedence and swept all other issues off the table.

Fortunately, a week before the conference, REAL Women decided not to attend for a number of reasons, including what turned out to be an accurate analysis of the new agenda, as well as considerable difficulties in obtaining hotel accommodation in Durban. At the last minute, we decided that our very limited funds could be put to better use than attending the conference - which turned out to be the absolute truth.
Canada participates in Racist Conference

Although the US and Israel withdrew from the conference, Canada sent a delegation that was twice as large as that of any other country. Our delegation was headed by the Minister of Multiculturalism, Hedy Fry; however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Manley, backed out at the last minute, after much soul-searching and consultation with special interest groups. Hedy Fry, who sees racism and burning crosses across Canada "as we speak," when none exists, spent taxpayers' money to her heart's content, both before and during the conference.

For example, prior to the conference, Ms. Fry (at a cost of $2M dollars) funded several two-day conferences in seven cities across Canada, to meet lobby groups interested in racism. These conferences were supposedly to study and discuss racism and to prepare papers on the issue. REAL Women, which is an NGO with consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, and which has participated at its own expense in most of the UN world conferences over the past ten years, was not invited to attend any of these government-sponsored conferences. Obviously Ms. Fry had her own special and inclusive definition of "racism" which excludes anyone holding a conservative perspective.

Each of Ms. Fry's meetings in Canada required consultants, facilitators, translators, and, of course, photographers, to document the events. To show how inclusive she was, native elders were summoned to perform the opening and closing prayers at each meeting. They received $150 per prayer, plus travel expenses. A meeting was scheduled to take place in Iqualuit. It never took place, but it cost the taxpayers $44,000. Included in these pre-conference expenses were such items as $18 Starbucks mugs, $75 wall hangings, Scandinavian sandwiches, grilled salmon, $19-a-dozen cookies, hotel rooms, airfares and $120,000 worth of receptions.

Ms. Fry's extravagance also included covering the cost (a further $2 M payout) of sending representatives from approximately 60 Canadian special interest groups to attend the conference including the Yukon-Franco Association (690 francophones reside in the Yukon), the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, the National Council of Chinese Canadians, the Métis National Council of Women, the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance, the PEI Multicultural Council, the Youth Action Network, the Multicultural Association of Saskatchewan, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE). Other groups attending were the:

A great time was had by all. Absolutely nothing was achieved but a great deal of money was spent.

By the way, the practice of holding expensive government-sponsored meetings across Canada for carefully selected special interest groups prior to UN conferences, to "discuss" the issues and the placing of NGOs (all expenses paid) on our delegations is not unusual for the Liberal government. This practice took place during other UN conferences, for example, the 1995 UN Conference on Women in Beijing, at which hordes of Canadian feminists and lesbians representing their organizations attended the conference, thanks to the Canadian taxpayer. Similarly, the Cairo +5 Conference in New York in 1999 (a follow-up to the UN's 1994 Cairo conference on Population and Development), was a financial boon to the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada and its followers. In short, these UN Conferences serve as a gigantic boondoggle for the Liberal government to fund special interest groups to allow them to claw into government programs and monies. This is done so that their members will fondly recall the Liberal government in the voting booth - with the anticipation that more funds will roll their way if the government is re-elected.

In a letter to REAL Women of Canada on September 25, 2001, John Manley, Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that in negotiating its position at international conferences, the "Canadian government is exceptional in its open approach to the participation of Canadian civil society." It certainly is.

The Real Tragedy of
Durban Conference

The real tragedy of this UN Conference on Racism in Durban, according to Israeli journalist Uni Avnery and well-known Canadian journalist, Robert Fulford (National Post, October 6, 2001), is that there is a link between the rhetoric of anti-racism, as expressed in Durban and the atrocities in New York and Washington. According to these journalists, the Durban conference helped create the moment when terrorist action against the US was most likely to be popular in the Arab nations. In short, Durban, billed to the world as a well-intentioned and progressive UN conference, contributed to the setting against which the atrocity of September 11 could be staged.

Please write to:

The Right Hon. Jean Chrétien
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington St., 2nd Floor
Ottawa ON K1A 0A2
Tel: 613-992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900

Hon. John Manley
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Bldg., Tower A
10th Floor, 125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0G2
Tel. 613-995-1851
Fax: 613-996-3443

Your MP
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Please object to Canadians attending the UN Conference on Racism in Durban and to the extravagant practices of Ms. Fry and the Foreign Affairs Department for funding NGOs to attend UN Conferences and placing them on the Canadian delegations.

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