The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 4

A4 T1IK OTTAWA CITIZKN CANADA FHIDAY. 2 1, 1998 terrorism supporters T. I ST L.V 'V A 4v 4V. 7T If if 1 A vicious killing of a young girl has pitted concerned white parents against Inuit owners of sled dogs. Iqaluit split over sled dogs Federal court judge rejects appeal by Pakistani claimant By Stephen bindman A Federal Court judge has warned that Canada will not give shelter to refugee claimants who support terrorist organizations in their homeland, even if they do not "bloody their own hands." In a bluntly worded judgment released this week, Justice Francis Mul-doon ruled the Immigration and Refugee Board was correct to reject the refugee claim of Sultan Mehmoud for a second time.

Mr. Mehmoud admitted he had been a "deputy commander" with the militant Sunni Muslim organization Sep-ah-e-Sahaba (Soldiers of Islam) in his native Pakistan. The organization has been blamed for the bombing and murder of Shiite men, women and children and the destruction of foreign broadcasting equipment. But Mr. Mehmoud claimed he was never an active member of SSP, merely a supporter of its religious, charitable and educational activities, and he denied any involvement in violent attacks.

The refugee board concluded Mehmoud did have a well-founded fear of persecution if he returned to Pakistan because of his political beliefs. But it said he was excluded from claiming refugee status because there are "serious reasons" for concluding he has committed a crime against humanity. He was a "willing and knowing accomplice" in the goals of the SSP even though there was no evidence he personally took part in violence. Judge Muldoon agreed and, without mincing words, said Canada does not want people who support such "murderous" organizations with their time, money and work even though they are not the "trigger-squeezer, club-wield-er, match-striker or bomb-setter." "To give support to such organizations is to help promote their terrible and murderous persecutions of the civil population, or some segment of it, in their own countries. "The law surely states this: that one cannot give moral, social, temporal and financial support to a terrorist or murderous, intolerant organization in one's homeland and still expect to be welcomed as a refugee in Canada." Mr.

Mehmoud insisted the title "deputy commander" was merely an honorary designation given him for his service to the organization in allowing the SSP to use empty rooms above his shop for religious classes to teach children the Koran. But the outspoken judge ridiculed Mr. Mehmoud's claim, "like almost everyone who adheres to a murderous organization," that he was unaware of the group's persecution of Shiites. "It is well known historically that many persons who were members of the Nazi party claimed not to know of its policies by which it caused the Third Reich to implement policies of the ultimate murderous racism against all Jews, some Slavs and all Gypsies. "This ploy was deemed not credible in almost all instances and those Nazis were legally and morally condemned for helping and promoting a terrorist party through which they participated in persecuting their fellow nationals.

"So it is, almost always, with the IRA and the Hezbollah, too." As to the suggestion the SSP had benign purposes such as education and charity, Judge Muldoon said the same could be said of the South African apartheid regime, the Ku Klux Klan and "any number of organized haters." He called Mr. Mehmoud's testimony that he would continue to promote the SSP in Canada "an extra, insupportable provocation. "Does Canada really need to take in persons who are locked-in members of organizations dedicated to the killing or other elimination of people in their own homelands?" Mr. Mehmoud, his wife and daughter first entered Canada in 1990 but their refugee claim was rejected and they were returned to Pakistan, along with a Canadian-born daughter, in March 1992. Their tailor shop was attacked in September 1993 and one employee shot dead.

Two months later they returned to Canada and made a second claim. Mr. Mehmoud's wife and daughter were found to be refugees and will be allowed to stay in Canada, along with the daughter born here. His lawyer, Douglas Barker, called the ruling "grossly unfair" and said he will fight attempts to deport Mr. Mehmoud since the refugee board has found his life would be in danger in Pakistan.

"It's a murky area. If you are a member of an organization which has a terrorist wing, are you necessarily tainted by the violence of that terrorist wing?" Mr. Barker said. "Justice Muldoon was obviously upset by the tales of horror caused by the violence in Pakistan." The ruling comes days after the federal government announced it was dramatically strengthening its efforts to deport suspected war criminals, both from the Second World War and more modern-day conflicts. Some want the dogs moved well outside town or locked in pens.

Others say the problem is not the dogs, but children who do not heed repeated warnings to stay away from the animals. Lynda Gunn is chair of the town committee that's now preparing new safety recommendations. "We don't have any kind of consensus about what should be done," she says. "But for me, certainly, after a six-year-old girl is killed, it seems we have to do something to address the issue of the dog teams' proximity." Most of the dog teams in Iqaluit are kept on the beaches of Frobisher Bay, along the southern edge of town. It's a short walk from the town centre, which makes it convenient for dog owners to feed and exercise the animals.

Parents like Kathy Smith, another town councillor, want the sled dogs moved well outside town. "I believe I have the right to walk anywhere in town, on the roads or on the beach, with my young children without being afraid of loose dogs," she told a recent committee meeting. But sled dog owners like Mr. MacRury argue the town can't discriminate against huskies when Rottweilers, pit bulls, German shepherds and other dangerous animals are kept in backyards. "Obviously when a six-year-old is killed by dogs, there's a problem.

But to define what the problem is, that's the difficult part. It's a tragedy, but in the overall scheme of things, is this just something that happens? Is it the dogs or is it the children? Is it a proximity problem or a security problem?" Dog team owners say the town is 4 i 1 THE CANADIAN PRESS over-reacting to the child's death. They've pointed to statistics in the United States which show between 35 and 40 people are killed every year from dog attacks, none of them involving sled dogs. Says Mr. MacRury: "The sled dog guys are saying, "If you want to put my dogs two miles out of town, fine.

But then every blessed dog in town goes two miles Leah Tikivik was missing for 24 hours before a young boy told the RCMP he saw the girl walking toward a pack of sled dogs that were on the sea ice about 150 metres from shore. Police found only parts of her body. All eight sled dogs were later destroyed at the owner's request. Mr. MacRury contends that if the dogs are moved further from town, they become still more dangerous because they won't know how to act when they encounter people.

He said sled dogs must be rigorously trained and children kept away from them. Sled dogs have killed three children in the Canadian Arctic over the past three years. More have died in Greenland. Loose dogs are also a problem in Iqaluit, a town of 4,200, where last year 401 stray dogs were destroyed. Town council is to address both the loose dog problem and the sled dog issue in August at what's expected to be a heated, emotional meeting.

Ms. Gunn said at the very least, an education program will be launched in schools to warn children about the danger of approaching loose dogs: "In Iqaluit, children have to understand that any dog is a potential danger to you as a child." Special to the Citizen The user-pay scheme is necessary, he explained, because it would be "totally nuts" to expect the meteorologist on duty to field free phone calls from the public. "We just don't have the human resources," he said. "We just couldn't handle it." Even trying to accommodate paying clients means the weather office is sometimes "like a zoo," he said. One of the meteorologists has told him he sometimes "feels like a one-armed wallpaper hanger" attempting to respond to calls.

The user-pay program is largely because of cutbacks but is also based on the premise that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for specialized services to sectors that stand to make economic gain from information received. The program also tends to weed out frivolous calls that used to come in regularly at the old weather stations. "Before, we used to get tons and tons of calls about the stupidest of things," Huibers said. Although talking to a live weather forecaster now costs money, he said: "We still provide a basic level of free service." For example, people can call local phone numbers to get a taped message with basic information about weather conditions. Those conditions are also relayed at no charge via the Internet and to the media through transmission to national wire services that serve print and broadcast outlets.

The more detailed information from speaking to meteorologists is worth paying for, Huibers said. The information may be needed in making critical decisions on such things as when to pour concrete for new buildings. "The decision they make could have thousands of dollars of repercussions," he said. Special to the Citizen Minister hints government may abolish school boards Environment Canada considers $3 charge for live consultation By Andrew Duffy Iqaluit, N.W.T. With each successive block, a pedestrian here is greeted with a new chorus of yelps and howls, barks and growls.

The dogs of Iqaluit seem to be everywhere. Lately they've even been dominating headlines in a town that's engrossed in preparations for the April 1, 1999 launch of Nunavut, Canada's third official territory. The dogs became the focus of a heated debate after a six-year-old Inuk girl, Leah Tikivik, was mauled to death by a pack of sled dogs in March. Leah was pulled into two by the powerful huskies. Much of her torso was eaten.

Complicating the attempt to develop new safety measures is the fact that the debate largely pits local dog team owners, most of whom are Inuit, against a vocal contingent of parents, most of whom are white. The issue cuts to the very heart of how Iqaluit will accommodate Inuit tradition within a rapidly developing town, now almost 40 per cent non-Inuit. "It's not a rational issue at all, it's an emotional issue," says town councillor Ken MacRury, a dog team owner for the past 20 years. "You have a bunch of white folks that are all concerned about it and the Inuit who are not concerned at all. They say that's the way life is here: it's dangerous.

But some of the parents, they want to make Iqaluit the same as Mississauga." Town council is now considering what kind of measures should be put in place to protect children from the town's dog population, and in particular, its sled dogs. Bill 160 put all the power over education funding into the hands of the Harris government, which some say is just the first step to getting rid of school boards as New Brunswick did. "If the government were to be successful and have the courts find that no school board has the right to local management and local control, then you begin to wonder what the next step is," said Liz Sandals, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association. Mr. Johnson said the lower court might have decided parts of Bill 160 are unconstitutional, "but the legal opinion we have is that the challenge should have been rejected and that's going to be our position at the next level," referring to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

"And we believe our chances of winning there are excellent." Regardless of the outcome, Mr. Johnson said he has "no intentions" of scrapping Bill 160. funding for religious and other independent schools. In Alberta, alternative religious schools also operate as part of public school boards. He said that in Ontario, however, most minority religious families cannot afford private education and "are forced to send their children to the secular public educational system where they receive an education fundamentally inconsistent with their beliefs and values." Mr.

Vandezande is urging the government to not only consider funding independent schools, but also to permit public school students to participate in voluntary religious instruction or other religious club activities during lunch hours. The Multi-Faith Coalition represents Hindu, Sikh and Christian no school board has the right to tax, then the boards' days are numbered. "We have never ruled out the belief that the government's ultimate goal was to get rid of the school boards and take over every aspect of education," said Marshall Jarvis, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA). "I believe that this government will ensure that it and it alone has sole taxing power and that will be the reason and the only reason for this government if it moves to obliterate school boards," Mr. Jarvis said.

"I believe it is time the government makes clear their true agenda." OECTA won its challenge to parts of Bill 160 when Justice Peter Cum-ming of the Ontario Court's general division ruled that the government did not have the right to strip the Catholic school boards of their power to tax, noting that the right was clearly protected under the BY RICHARD BRENNAN TORONTO Ontario Education Minister Dave Johnson fuelled fears yesterday the Conservative government plans eventually to abolish school boards. Mr. Johnson left the door open by refusing to flatly deny such a plan exists. "There is no plan to abolish school boards in the next terms, but circumstances change year by year, government by government, so I'm not going to speculate on that," Mr. Johnson said.

Speculation on the future of school boards has intensified since a court ruled Wednesday that a section of Bill 160 an important part of the government's overhaul of education is unconstitutional. Mr. Johnson has promised to fight the lower court decision all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and critics fear if the higher court finds Independent By Bob Harvey If the provincial government is going to re-examine school funding, then it should also consider funding independent schools, says an Ontario multi-faith group. "This is an historic occasion to set the matter straight. The horrendous discrimination against religious communities has to stop," says Gerald Vandezande, government relations coordinator for the Ontario Multi-Faith Coalition for Equity in Education.

He said Wednesday's court ruling affirming the constitutional right of Catholic school boards to levy school taxes provides an opportunity for the government to review the funding of all schools in the province. The court decision "puts the whole By Philip Jalsevac It may soon cost almost $3 a minute to speak to a live weather forecaster. Under a recommendation being considered by Environment Canada, the charge would be the first rate increase in a national program that began in January, 1996. That's when the user fee was set at $1.95 a minute through calling a 1-900 number. It's supposed to rise to $2.99 a minute on Oct.

1, said Ron Huibers of the commercial services branch of WeUSedtO Environment get tons and Canada's weather 11 office in Toronto, tons 01 Calls However, Barry about the Green, acting di- .1 rector of the com- stupidest of mercial services branch, said in Ot tawa the increase Ron Huibers, hasn.t been con. Environment firmed or ap-Canada proved. He said hhhk, the increase is a recommendation to senior management at Environment Canada. The user-fee program was established in response to government cutbacks of about 40 per cent of the weather services budget and the closure of 60 weather stations across Canada in 1996. There are now only 17.

In southern Ontario, only one meteorologist is on duty at a time to field calls from people in such sectors as agriculture, aviation, the media, film industry, construction, landscaping, insurance and transportation. Some also exercise the option of purchasing a contract costing between $100 to $400 a month by which they obtain an unlisted phone number to call a meteorologist. Those fees are expected to increase with the 1-900 rates, Huibers said. schools renew pitch for funding question of who is entitled to which rights in education on the public agenda. Everybody affected should be at the table," said Mr.

Vandezande. He said yesterday that Premier Mike Harris promised in 1995 to review the province's long-standing refusal to provide public funding for denominational and other independent schools. So far, however, the Harris government has failed to live up to that promise, said Mr. Vandezande. In a recent letter to Premier Harris, he said "it is ironic that while Ontario is perhaps the most multi-cultural and multi-religious of all Canadian provinces, it has been resistant to recognizing the legitimate needs of diverse religious communities." Mr.

Vandezande said that Canadian provinces such as Alberta and British Columbia provide partial or complete.