It has come down to this...

There is a certain irony to the long term implications for the controversy surrounding Abousfian Abdelrazik. The Conservative party of Canada or at least its Reform roots has long railed against what they describe as an activist judiciary making law. In fact what has occurred several times is that the courts have responded to their responsibility to interpret the law and of course weigh the validity of specific laws against our constitution. It is the test that all laws must pass.

The irony comes from the fact that it is the Conservative government that is continually butting heads with the courts by their sometime blatant and wilful ignorance of our constitutional rights as Canadian citizens. Thus the Government of Canada has been ordered to allow a safe injection site to remain open in Vancouver and has been instructed to act to bring Omar Khadr home to Canada. With the case now being heard on the governments refusal to allow Abdelrazik to return home it may be three for three.

What is slowly developing is a body of case law that may serve to set a trend for both policy and practice. Governments must be reminded that in a democracy they cannot act against their citizens in an abitrary and unlawful manner. That is is generally the Conservatives who are precipitating this is truly ironic.