{"id":18474,"date":"2016-04-22T00:28:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T07:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=18474"},"modified":"2016-04-20T17:57:33","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T00:57:33","slug":"a-continuing-pursuit-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/04\/22\/a-continuing-pursuit-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"A continuing pursuit of justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irwin Cotler told those at the launch of the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy\u2019s Pursuing Justice Project on March 31 that his current focus is the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in Montreal. (photo by Dave Gordon)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Irwin Cotler was honored on March 31 for his dedication to human rights activism. Attendees at the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy event learned how Jewish values drove, and intersected, with Cotler\u2019s career in pursuing justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father used to say to me: the pursuit of justice is equal to all the commandments combined. This is what you must teach to your children,\u201d said Cotler.<\/p>\n

The gala at Toronto\u2019s Omni King Edward Hotel served to launch the Pearson Centre\u2019s Pursuing Justice Project, \u201cwhich is focused on increasing the understanding of Canadians about justice, diversity and inclusion.\u201d The centre describes itself as a centrist think tank, addressing policy issues related to justice, health and social services, with the goal \u201cto engage Canadians in an active dialogue about a progressive future for Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the speakers offering introductory remarks at the launch were former prime ministers John Turner and, via video, Paul Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Turner had the temerity to give me my first job out of law school,\u201d Cotler shared.<\/p>\n

In addition to serving as Liberal member of Parliament for Mount Royal in Montreal from 1999 to 2015, Cotler also served as federal minister of justice and attorney general during his career.<\/p>\n

In a discussion with Indira Naidoo-Harris, Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly for Halton, Ont., Cotler spoke about a 10-year-old idea that never bore fruit, wherein justice ministers from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt all agreed to convene with Canada\u2019s justice minister, in Canada, to foster dialogue. A \u201cjustice summit\u201d he dubbed it, \u201cwhich I hoped would have a peace dividend.\u201d<\/p>\n

He would like the Trudeau government to revive the concept, because \u201ceducating each other in the culture of peace is important,\u201d Cotler told the Independent<\/em>. Palestinian incitement, in contrast, \u201cis a threat to peace in the Middle East, threatens Palestinians\u2019 right to self-determination … and glorifies terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an international human rights lawyer, Cotler served as counsel to many high-profile political prisoners, including South Africa\u2019s Nelson Mandela and Israel\u2019s Natan Sharansky, who was released from a decade in the Soviet gulag 30 years ago February, and became a member of the Knesset and an author.<\/p>\n

Both former prisoners were beacons of \u201chope and the vision and the inspiration,\u201d with respect to \u201ctwo of the great human rights struggles of the second half of the 20th century,\u201d Cotler remarked.<\/p>\n

The release of political prisoners, he added, is \u201csuch an overriding commandment that you\u2019re allowed to breach the Sabbath\u201d to free them.<\/p>\n

Cotler\u2019s current undertaking is growing the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in Montreal, which he founded. Among its many objectives, he told the Independent<\/em>, are \u201cpromoting human dignity, combating racism, hatred and antisemitism, and defending political prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Gordon<\/strong> is a Toronto-based freelance writer and the managing editor of landmarkreport.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Irwin Cotler told those at the launch of the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy\u2019s Pursuing Justice Project on March 31 that his current focus is the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in Montreal. (photo by Dave Gordon) Irwin Cotler was honored on March 31 for his dedication to human rights activism. Attendees at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5729,1122,218,5371,826],"class_list":["post-18474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-cotler","tag-human-rights","tag-judaism","tag-justice","tag-raoul-wallenberg"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}