Protest exposes war criminal Cheney, and Harper's complicity

 
As part of its tar sands campaign, the Harper government let war criminal Dick Cheney, the former US Vice President, speak at the Toronto Global Forum about why he supports the Keystone XL pipeline. A number of conservative cabinet ministers also spoke at the conference, including Treasury Board President Tony Clement and Minister of International Trade Ed Fast.
 
According to Lawyers Against the War, Cheney should have been arrested either under the Criminal Code of Canada or because Canada was a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture. The group made its case—in letters to Toronto Chief of Police Bill Blair, Ontario Attorney General John Gerretsen, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and several cabinet ministers—arguing Cheney should be arrested “as a person suspected on reasonable grounds of authorizing, counseling, aiding, abetting and failing to prevent torture.”
 
On October 31, the day Cheney spoke, there was a protest against him and against the Canadian government’s complicity. Protesters held placards that read "Cheney War Criminal," and "Torturer" and chanted "Dick Cheney, war Criminal", "wrong on torture, wrong on war, Dick Cheney out the door" and “Cheney out, Resisters in.”
 
Speakers from Afghans United for Justice, Canadian Arab Federation,Toronto Coalition to Stop the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign spoke about the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the complicity of the Canadian government with war criminals like Cheney, Blair or Bush, and the need to let US Iraq War resisters stay in Canada.