McCarthyist Nightmare?

Not really, just observing a set of political and social and civilizational standards when determining who may enter Canada and who may not. Those with criminal records, those who have been charged with violent political acts, those whom it is known to have been involved in human rights abuses, and those who support outlawed terrorist groups are not welcome in Canada.

It's a tough call to make, sometimes, for a country that represents as one where freedom of speech, of association, of religion, of ideology is recognized as a right.

Of course, those are freedoms guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms under the Canadian Constitution, for citizens of Canada. There are no such guarantees for those who attempt to enter the country who are not protected under the Charter, as foreigners, although the country sees itself as open and welcoming to law-abiding people wherever they come from.

And while freedom of speech is a cherished ideal here as it is in most liberal democracies there are also societal obligations to ensure that one man's freedom does not disrupt another man's comfort. Extreme opinions and exhortations to defy authority of any respected free democracy, along with denunciations that can be construed as hateful in nature aimed at minority groups are not welcome in Canada.

There can be exceptions, when decisions by the Canadian Border Services Agency can be over-ridden through the authority of a Minister's Permit, but it isn't too likely that either British MP George Galloway or William Ayers, now a respected academic with left-left-leaning credentials and former co-founder of the radical 60s Weather Underground are likely to fall into the category of this kind of exception.

Both have been refused entry to Canada, and for fairly explicable reasons. Mr. Ayers, although never convicted as a felon, has the distinction of having been a war protester, who chose as his method of civil disobedience the practise of street fighting, confrontational militancy and bomb-making.

He and his group of revolutionaries repeatedly bombed a statue dedicated to riot police casualties, and participated in bombings of New York City Police Headquarters and the United States Capital building in 1971. The deaths that did occur through their activities happened to be those of their own; three who were blown up by a bomb they were making.

Mr. Galloway, another peace protester who, confoundingly, fully supports the radical Islamist group Hamas in their jihad against the State of Israel, has been banned from entry to Canada simply because he gives both loud moral support to Hamas, and financial support as well. To a group which Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia and the European Union recognize as a terrorist group, thus eliminating Mr. Galloway as a casual moralist spreading the good word of peace within Canada.

Neither Mr. Ayers' now-sterling reputation as a reputable and highly respected academic who has received civic rewards for outstanding community work and received high recognition for his prodigious publication output, nor Mr. Galloway, an elected member of the British parliament, espouse views that find full support universally.

Their message of peace is muted and complicated by their past history on the one hand, and choice of heroic mentors on the other. No McCarthyist nightmare, merely a government exercising its full sovereignty.

Wonder if these peace-respecting members of society will exercise themselves in support of the Dalai Lama whom South Africa has seen fit to bar from taking part in a peace conference in that country...?