Talk:Irwin Cotler

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I am new to editting so if I didn't follow procedure, feel free to correct me. I removed the innaccurate mentions of Irwins anti-drug attempts. They were false and biased. Relating to the person seeking refugee for drug charges, it has to go through an court process before it goes to the Minister of Justice. That persons appeal is still in court so Irwin has had no opportunity to even judge the appeal. Relating to the first drug-related link, it was misleading. Cotler actually has pursued the decriminalization of certain drugs and included 2 links to prove it.


Is it appropriate to dedicate over half the entry on Cotler to a single article ("Identifying the new anti-semitism") that he wrote? It's hardly the only or main focus of his career, and he's much better known as the justice minister and for human rights work. If nobody objects, I'll just turn that into a short blurb and link to the article: http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Identifying_the_New_Anti-Semitism.asp . To focus on the "New antisemitism" article itself, start a new entry.

Vasi 15:13, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

You can add other things to focus on them if you want to. Unless he rejected his opinion expressed in the article "New anti-semitism", I think to keep that part. --Vasile 16:44, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that it's sensible to link to content at the ukar.org site. The guy who publishes UKAR writes things like "inciting fear and hatred of Ukrainians is an integral part of Jewish culture" (http://www.ukar.org/tax02.html). It looks like it was already decided to de-link ukar.org from the Simon Wiesenthal page. Could you find another more reputable source, and change those links?

Vasi 04:11, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

I decided to go to original sources, and found some evidence of Cotler's involvement with Sharansky, from not long after Sharansky was released (on Feb 11, 1986).

  • From the Montreal Gazette, Feb 12:
    • Cotler was at the airport to meet Sharansky when he arrived in Israel after being released, where "he watched the Soviet dissident and his wife step from the plane".
    • He "travelled to Israel to draw up strategy with Avital [Sharansky's wife] and presented the case to international human rights specialists in Ottawa".
    • "[H]e met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's chief legal adviser at the Soviet-U.S. summit in Geneva. The Soviet official hinted to Cotler that Shcharansky's release was a distinct possibility." At the summit, he argued that "Shcharansky had become a symbol so harmful to the Soviet Union that it was now in the best interests of Moscow to let him go."
    • He characterized his role as "acting for the Shcharanskys in a number of countries". So he wasn't the primary defense lawyer in Sharansky's case (which occurred 10 years earlier), but was in a supporting role.
    • "Cotler and others set up a meeting with the Soviet judge who sentenced Shcharansky and the Soviet prosecutor".
    • Also "organized a mock trial...in The Hague" and "[d]emonstrations...in California".
  • From the Ottawa Citizen, May 9:
    • The day after Sharansky was released, Cotler met him "for the very first time".
    • The Soviet Union received a "legal appeal brief he and Avital prepared in 1978".
    • His meeting with the judge who convicted Sharansky was "arranged by the Canadian government".
    • "When she [Avital] returned to Montreal following his arrest in March 1977, she told Cotler of her difficulties in getting a lawyer in Moscow and asked him to take the case".
    • "Joseph Magnet, a University of Ottawa law professor...says without hesitation that Cotler played a 'major role' in Shcharansky's release."
    • "He's the Canadian counsel for Nelson Mandela"..."counsel for Ukrainian dissident Alexei Murzhenko".

There are also articles from Feb 1986 referencing him in the Los Angeles Times and Toronto Star. He's cited as "Sharansky's Canadian lawyer". There's even an article on a different topic from March 1985 in the Montreal Gazette, which calls him Sharansky's lawyer--this is before Sharansky was released.

If you look, there are also find a number of articles from before Mandela was released which call Cotler one of his lawyers. Are there any reputable and trusted sources which dispute Cotler's involvement in human rights law? If so, please link to them, since it doesn't do wikipedia credit to depend on ukar.

Vasi 05:29, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ukar.org

I am removing the entire section about the "controversy" about the Nelson Mandela claim. The site that is its basis, ukar.org, has vile anti-semitic content. Totally, totally inappropriate to Wikipedia. -Joshuapaquin 03:21, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy as Justice Minister

I've added this section, since there is plenty of controversy surrounding Cotler, especially when he served as Canada's Justice Minister.