About 500 people watch a video screen as controversial British MP George Galloway is broadcast live from New York in the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto on Monday. The Canada Border Services Agency advised Mr. Galloway, in a letter dated March 20, that he had been deemed inadmissible to Canada on the grounds he allegedly engaged in terrorist activities.Darren Calabrese
Lawyers for a controversial British MP banned from Canada are launching a pair of court challenges against the decision.
Supporters of George Galloway say the ban has no legal justification and is a politically motivated attack on free speech.
They say the Conservative government has concocted an allegation that Mr. Galloway supports terrorism simply because they disagree with his pro-Palestinian views.
Lawyers for the Scottish-born politician are filing two separate motions in Federal Court: a request for a judicial review of the government's decision; and a demand for an immediate injunction overturning it.
They say the full judicial review could take months, while the injunction would allow Mr. Galloway to enter Canada next week for a four-day speaking tour in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
One of his lawyers told a Parliament Hill news conference that the government has distorted the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to suit its political purposes.
"The act is being interpreted to restrict certain opinions and voices," said Jamie Liew. "This is a dangerous precedent in terms of how we grant access.
"The decision by the government is rare and unprecedented. It's stretching the interpretation to include humanitarian aid - or activities including humanitarian aid - being described as terrorist activity.
"The legal team is challenging that notion."
The government says Mr. Galloway supported the terrorist group Hamas when he led a convoy to help Palestinians following the recent Israeli bombing of Gaza.
Mr. Galloway's supporters say the convoy included clothing, diapers, medical supplies, and $45,000 in relief money that he handed to the Hamas government.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization in Canada. In one of his first acts in office, Prime Minister Stephen Harper cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won legislative elections in 2006.
The government says the move to bar Galloway was based on the law - not politics.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney disputed the suggestion that his involvement in the file smacks of political interference.
He said the Canadian Border Services Agency informed Mr. Kenney's office last Tuesday that - according to Section 34.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act - Mr. Galloway's material support for Hamas rendered him inadmissible in Canada.
He said Canadian officials informed Mr. Galloway's office verbally on Thursday and were asked to provide written confirmation of the decision, which they sent late Friday.
Meanwhile, Kenney spokesman Alykhan Velshi said the story had broken in Britain by Friday morning, and that media began contacting him for comment.
That's how, Mr. Velshi said, Mr. Kenney's office wound up being quoted about the decision before a written confirmation of it had even been sent to Mr. Galloway.
Mr. Velshi said the minister occasionally uses his power to overrule CBSA security assessments but will not do so in this case.
Mr. Galloway's supporters call that absurd.
One of the organizers of his speaking tour said Mr. Galloway has never expressed support for terrorism and merely wanted to help Gaza's suffering civilians.
"He was very clear that this is not about supporting Hamas," said James Clark, who has been planning Mr. Galloway's visit.
"This is about providing humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza. Canada . . . remains the only country in the world that is interpreting this gesture as a terrorist act.
"There are grounds for us to challenge this legally and politically."
He said the rest of the world, including Canada's allies such as the U.S. and Britain, are moving toward open a dialogue with elected Hamas officials while Canada prefers isolation.
NDP and Bloc Quebecois MPs joined Mr. Galloway's supporters for their Parliament Hill news conference.
The Liberals did not attend the event, but have said Mr. Galloway should be allowed in even if many consider him to have extremist, anti-Israeli views.
An NDP MP said the Mr. Galloway decision is part of a disturbing trend.
She noted that retired U.S. army colonel Ann Wright was also barred from entering Canada to speak at an anti-war news conference in 2007. Kenney's office has also cut off funding for an Arab group that criticized him.
Olivia Chow said immigration law is supposed to be about welcoming people to Canada, and keeping out dangerous people who want to harm Canadians.
"It is used now and twisted in a way that bars people that do not agree with Harper's government's direction on war," said Ms. Chow, an NDP MP.
"I find that extremely depressing and disturbing."