Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham admonished the Lebanese ambassador to Canada yesterday after the diplomat was quoted as saying that Ottawa banned the militant group Hezbollah because of pressure from pro-Israeli news organizations.
Ambassador Raymond Baaklini was quoted as saying that 90 per cent of Canada's media is controlled by Zionists, although an Arab-Canadian group charged yesterday that a translation of the original interview with Mr. Baaklini was intentionally distorted.
Mr. Baaklini was also reported to have said that overseas tourists may now be in some danger if they wear T-shirts with Maple Leaves and that Canadian police are suspicious of men with beards and women with veils. The comments were translated from an interview published last month in an Arabic newspaper.
Mr. Graham called Mr. Baaklini in for a meeting yesterday with the Department of Foreign Affairs' assistant deputy minister for the Middle East where, according to a department spokesman, the diplomat was told his remarks were "unacceptable and without foundation."
Mr. Graham said Hezbollah was banned because of its actions, not pressure from pro-Israel groups or newspapers within Canada. He also said Mr. Baaklini needed greater explanation about Canada's multicultural democracy and emphasis on tolerance.
"We're not a country where we single out groups and make comments about them. We're a country where we have respect for one another."
Department spokesman Rodney Moore said, "This was a serious meeting. We're concerned about anti-Semitism."
He said the controversial remarks will be further addressed by Canadian officials in Lebanon, who will discuss the matter with the Lebanese government.
Late yesterday, Canadian media baron Israel Asper issued a press release calling for Canada to expel Mr. Baaklini and declare him persona non grata. Ottawa should send a clear message to Lebanon that the ambassador's comments "were offensive, untruthful and otherwise unacceptable," Mr. Asper said in the release.
Mr. Asper is chairman of CanWest Global Communications Corp., whose holdings include the Global television network and 17 daily newspapers across Canada. The company's roster of dailies includes the National Post, which published an article yesterday based on a translated version of Mr. Baaklini's comments.
Mr. Baaklini was not available for comment yesterday but a spokesman for the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations said the newspaper's translation wasn't accurate. Mazen Chouaib, the council's executive director, said the ambassador's comments were intentionally manipulated by the newspaper's translator to fit the Asper political agenda. "Mr. Asper should not be dictating Canadian policy."
Mr. Graham said he was basing his remarks only on newspaper reports of Mr. Baaklini's comments. The government also had its own translation of the interview, Mr. Moore said later.