Juno News - November 13, 2018Asia Bibi needs a country. Canada should be it.
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Summary
Aasia Bibi is a Christian woman who served almost nine years in prison in Pakistan for blasphemy. She was released on bail, but her conviction was overturned, leading to riots in the streets and calls for her to be killed. Justin Trudeau is now in talks with the Pakistani government about whether she can come to Canada.
Transcript
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With how much the discussion about refugees and asylum seekers in Canada has been dominated by
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the illegal border crossers coming in from the United States and Justin Trudeau's mishandling
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of that crisis, we need to realize there are very legitimate circumstances why someone needs to
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flee their country and quite frankly why Canada should be the place to which they can flee.
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One very notable example of that is the case of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani woman who has served
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almost nine years in prison and was once sentenced to death after the Christian woman was charged
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Now that conviction was overturned but proving why it was such a problem in the first place,
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the very rampant backlash to the Supreme Court of Pakistan's overturning of her conviction
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led to riots in the streets, thousands of people stepping up to condemn the court and even calling
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for the judges to be killed, calling for jihad to be waged against the judges who dared let a woman
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Some reports say she's still in Pakistan, others that she's left.
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Her husband has put an appeal out for safe haven around the world including to Canada
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and even her lawyer has had to uproot his life and bring his family to the Netherlands
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so that he can be free from the Islamic radicals that exist in Pakistan.
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Well, a little bit of good news on the horizon perhaps.
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Justin Trudeau said that he is in talks with the Pakistani government about whether she could
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Justin Trudeau gave an adaptation of his famous line that Canada is a welcoming place.
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Now, I don't know the details of what negotiation, if any, has been going on but I do hope sincerely
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that these discussions are serious and that they actually lead to a resolution.
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That's assuming that Asia Bibi wants to come to Canada but I do think Canada needs to step up
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especially when someone's right to free speech and someone's religious freedom is being threatened abroad.
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We're talking about a woman who literally spent nearly a decade behind bars and at one point would be executed
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because she lives in a country that does not respect religious pluralism, free speech or religious freedom.
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If Canada wants to be taken seriously as a free nation and a freedom-loving nation
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especially a nation that is a safe haven for others
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we need to step up and take serious these cases that actually are egregious violations of one's rights.
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If we have room for tens of thousands of illegal border crossers coming into Canada
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we certainly have room for Asia Bibi coming from the unsafe Pakistan.
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For the True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.
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For the True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.