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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Bill lets victims of torture sue
MONTREAL -- Hoping to give future Canadian torture victims a chance to seek redress on local soil, a Montreal MP will table a private member's bill today that would make it possible for them to sue their ex-captors in Canadian civil courts.
In the past, attempts by torture victims such as Maher Arar and Houshang Bouzari have failed because Canadian courts have ruled they did not have the right to sue foreign states under the State Immunity Act. The legislation to be introduced by Liberal MP Irwin Cotler in Ottawa seeks to amend the act to give that right to Canadian victims of torture, crimes against humanity and genocidal governments. It's a move being welcomed by human-rights activists as long overdue.
"We need to make sure that as many survivors of torture and other atrocities can have some sort of access to some sort of justice, some sort of legal remedies for what happened to them," said Matt Eisenbrandt, of the Canadian Centre for International Justice.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2009 A9
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