Bob Rae is no starry-eyed apologist for Sri Lanka's defeated Tamil Tiger guerrillas. Writing in the Star a few months ago, he described them as "ruthless at killing their opponents," undemocratic, ...
- Bob Rae on being banned from Sri Lanka
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Date: June 10, 2009
For Release: Immediate
Personal Statement by Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic, the Hon. Bob Rae, on being refused entry into Sri Lanka at the Colombo Airport:
On the evening of June 9, 2009, I arrived on a flight from Delhi to Colombo, Sri Lanka. I had successfully applied to the Sri Lankan High Commission for a visa and had discussed my visit with the Sri Lankan Commissioner, the Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, and with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
When I arrived at immigration in the company of two Canadian High Commission officials I was, after some delay, told that I was being refused entry "on the grounds of national intelligence."
I spent over twelve hours at the airport trying to find a reason for this decision. I had the full support of officials there and in Ottawa. The Government of Sri Lanka stuck to its position, and I was put on a plane to London.
The Foreign Office in Sri Lanka has indicated that they have no objection to my visit, but the army and Defence Secretary have made the absurd assertion that I am a "LTTE supporter" and a "security risk." I was told to sign a statement with these words: "The statements attributed to me on the situation in Sri Lanka, have been made without full awareness of the true facts of the ground situation, which I regret," but I was never told which "words" or "statements" they were referring to. I refused to sign such an Orwellian document.
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