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Zuzak GRC Report; Wed., Mar. 01, 2006

(1) SS in Britain: Once again on the weekend of 04Feb2006, hate propaganda against the Halychyna Division emanated from Britain via articles in the BBC News, the Independent and the London Guardian. Anatoli K. submitted a Ukraine connection in the 22Feb2006 issue of e-Poshta. These are archived as items 17 to 20 at
http://www.willzuzak.ca/tp/articles/ss3britain.html

(2) Supreme Court of Canada appointment: On 23Feb2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that his nominee to the Supreme Court of Canada (to replace retiring John Major) was Marshall Rothstein, a judge in the Federal Court of Appeal. On 27Feb2006, there was full TV coverage of his delicate questioning by an ad-hoc parliamentary committee. Although I found the TV, radio and newspaper coverage reasonably educational, I was astounded that no one at that time (or since) has referred to Mr. Rothstein’s Jewish origins. 

Neither has anyone pointed out that of the last four Supreme Court appointments, three of them have been of Jewish origin. These are Morris Fish (05Aug2003), Rosalie Silberman Abella (30Aug2004) and Marshall Rothstein (01Mar2006). The other six are evenly divided into what I would call the British Empire Loyalists and the French-Quebec Representatives: Beverley McLachlin (30Mar1989), William Binnie (08Jan1998), Louise Charron (30Aug2004) and Michel Bastrache (30Sep1997), Louis LeBel (07Jan2000), Marie Deschamps (07Aug2002). Five of the judges appear to be associated with Quebec. 

This breakdown does, indeed, appear to be representative of the power structure in Canada, but what about the rest of Canadians? -- the  various ethnic groups, the various peoples of different skin color (so-called visible minorities), the various religions? Should not the Supreme Court of Canada reflect the demographics of Canada? Would not a person of Muslim faith of Pakistani origin, or of Hindu faith with origins in India, or of Chinese or Japanese ancestry broaden the perspective of the Supreme Court of Canada? Will the original native inhabitants of Canada ever be represented in our legal system?  In my opinion, the present composition of the Supreme Court of Canada is simply unhealthy.

Marshall Rothstein was born on 25Dec1940 in Winnipeg and married Sheila Dorfman from Montreal on 12Jun1966. His father emigrated from Poland to Yorkton, Saskatchewan and his mother from Belarus to Winnipeg after(?) WWI. Upon obtaining a Bachelor of Commerce degree and being elected president of the University of Manitoba Students’ Union, he started his law degree. He entered private practice and was a member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal from 1986 to 1992. He was made a judge of the Federal Court of Canada on 24Jun1992 and was appointed to the Federal Court of Appeal on 21Jan1999 by Anne McLellan.

From the Federal Judicial Affairs website at  http://www.fja.gc.ca/ a list of written decisions of Mr. Rothstein is available at http://www.fja.gc.ca/jud_app/JR/2_00_e.html . 

From 1993 to 2002 in the Federal Court, a majority (143 of 263) cases were involved with Citizenship and Immigration (CIC). These are normally associated with prospective immigrants seeking refugee status, work visas, landed immigrant status, etc. In 2002 the vast majority of these decisions appear to favour the CIC bureaucracy against the individual. (I only found one case involving a woman from Saratov, Russia asking for a permanent resident visa in the entrepreneur category, which favoured the individual.)

Of particular interest is the case of Zundel v. Attorney General with CHRC as intervenor (T-2765-96, 17Sep1997), wherein the CHRC demands that Ernst Zundel be compelled to attend a cross-examination on his affidavits. Mr. Rothstein rules against Mr. Zundel. (Not listed amongst the written decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal is the hearing on 14Oct2004 in front of Mr. Rothstein on the refusal of Judge Pierre Blais to recuse himself from the Ernst Zundel “security certificate” case on grounds of conflict of interest and bias. The ruling on 23Nov2004 obviously went against Mr. Zundel, since Mr. Blais eventually ruled that the “security certificate” was valid and Mr. Zundel was eventually deported to Germany.)
(See A-534-04, 204 FCA 394 by Letourneau, Rothstein and Noel, Date: 20041123)

From 1999 to 2006 in the Federal Court of Appeal almost 10% (17 of 200) of the decisions were CIC cases. Once again of the cases examined all decisions favoured the CIC bureaucracy. 

Of particular concern is Sogi v. CIC (A-597-03, 2004 FCA 212), wherein Mr. Rothstein upholds the decision of Andrew MacKay (of Helmut Oberlander and Wasyl Odynsky infamy) to withhold evidence from the appellant Sogi on grounds of national security.

Also insightful is Canadian Magen David for Israel v. Minister of National Revenue (2002 FCA 323), wherein the appellant’s registration as a charitable organization had been revoked.  Justices Sharlow and Letourneau ruled that the appeal should be dismissed; whereas Justice Rothstein wrote a dissenting opinion.

Respectfully yours
Will Zuzak, 2006-03-01