When it Comes to Women's Rights in Afghanistan, Lawrence Cannon Says What Rights?

Last spring, when news that the Afghan Parliament had passed a law depriving women of their children in cases of separation, banning them from appearing in public without the permission of their husbands, and making it illegal for them to refuse to have sex with them; Canadians were outraged.

We immediately demanded answers from our government.

Our young men and women are fighting in that country and one of the things they are fighting for is the rights of women; or so we're told.

Foreign Affairs minister Lawrence Cannon got on it right away.

Canadian officials contacted Karzai's office, and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon spoke to two Afghan cabinet ministers Tuesday seeking clarification. Karzai's office has so far refused to comment on the legislation, which has been criticized by some Afghan parliamentarians and a UN women's agency but has not yet been published.

Critics say Karzai's government approved it in a hurry to win support in the upcoming election from ethnic Hazaras — a Shia Muslim minority that constitutes a crucial block of swing voters.

"If these reports are true, this will create serious problems for Canada," said International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who fielded questions in the House of Commons. "The onus is on the government of Afghanistan to live up to its responsibilities for human rights, absolutely including rights of women.

Fast forward to 2010, and the hostile take over of the Rights and Democracy agency by the Conservative government. Lawrence Cannon has already been brought into the mix when it was discovered that he lied about knowing that there were problems, instigated by his party.

So should we be surprised to learn that Cannon knew of the new Afghan law months before it was passed, so his huffing and puffing was nothing more than that?

Lawrence Cannon swore he knew nothing about the law and that it came as a complete surprise to him… he was contradicted by two employees - the president, Rémy Beauregard, and Razmik Panossian, its policy director, who told Embassy Magazine that Canada had known it was coming for months…

Rémy Beauregard was the gentleman who suffered a heart attack and died because of the horrendous actions of our tyrannical government. As I've said many times, if you question them they will set out to ruin you.

But apparently, Cannon was not the only one who knew.

Ottawa’s man, Aurel Braun, did not appreciate the fact that employees contradicted two Conservative ministers about what was known about Kabul’s misogynistic law….

So there were two high ranking Conservatives who knew of the law and supported it with their silence. We can only assume that the other one was Stockwell Day, since it was he who stood up in the House of Commons and said "The onus is on the government of Afghanistan to live up to its responsibilities for human rights, absolutely including rights of women."

He probably took notes to see if he could get away with enacting a law like that here.

Give him time.

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?