March 2001
by Barry Stagg
This whole sorry episode complete with small time grovelling by Canada toward Russia is sickening. A law abiding Canadian is killed in our country's capital city and Canada is swift off the mark to recite the oily clauses of the Vienna Convention that cloak an undeserving bum with immunity from criminal prosecution in Canada. Outrage is quickly made secondary to the Canadian government's overwhelming and servile urge to make sure that good manners and proper diplomatic etiquette are followed.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, to his credit, has angrily demanded an accounting from his own department as to how this 1999 fiasco happened. The newly appointed minister replaced that paragon of unction, Lloyd Axworthy who was minister when the 1999 apology was made to the Russians. Given Axworthy's obsession with the inanity of "soft power" and "third way" diplomacy, it is easy to see why a department under his control would be quick to curtsy to the still mighty Russians. Genuflection masked as civility is so often the mark of great cowards.
The tragedy of the Ottawa death and the grievous injury of another will be justifiably front and centre in that city for some time. Hopefully the Russians will dutifully prosecute the accused in Moscow. Perhaps the evidence will survive the doubtlessly twisted route from the streets of Ottawa to the Ottawa police department and on to the uncertainty of a Russian courtroom.
This senseless and brutal violence and the actions of Canada in deferring to politeness over responsibility to Canadian citizens reminds me of the aftermath of the Estai trawler seizure on the Grand Banks. That episode, which provided Brian Tobin with his political career, became another sorry example of Canada's international impotence when the trawler was returned to the Spanish with compensation. The end result for Canadians and for Newfoundland fishermen in particular was that Canada had given in to the diplomatic pressure exerted by Spain.
Spain? Who in Canada should care if Spain came right out and declared war on Canada? Diplomatic complaints from the Spanish government should have been treated like such complaints from the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Our rugged diplomats caved in to these mewlings as if they had come from the old Russian nuclear bear of the 1960's. Of course they have experience in nuzzling those big bad Brezhnev communists. That was back when the Russians factory ships led the way in stripping the Grand Banks of fish in the style of a nineteenth century African safari. But did our international warriors have to grovel to the Poles and the Bulgarians and the Cubans at the same time. Of course they did. It was only fish from Newfoundland.
Deliberate self-emasculation by Canada toward foreign countries is nothing new. What should be asked is why good ordinary Canadians tolerate being ruled by a government class of federal courtiers who find ways to defer to powerful entities opposed in interest to Canada and Canadians. Do Canadians prefer cowards over heroes, spinelessness over courage? It depends on which Canadians you ask. I suspect that those who make a good living out of maintaining good table manners for the federal government prefer cowardice while dressing up their lack of courage as civility.
Give me the patriotism and heroism of our Blue Puttees any time. The Newfoundlanders of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who fought World War I at Gallipoli and Beaumont-Hamel knew the difference between courage and the retreat of cowards . So should we.