Good thing he wasn't Ukrainian.
$1:
Ignatieff remains mum about former KGB agent
Despite petition signed by Liberal MPs, federal Liberal leader refuses to comment
Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has refused to weigh in on the case of a former KGB agent who sought sanctuary from the Canada Border Services Agency in an East Side church.
"Obviously, we need to see all the facts on this so we won't be commenting on it," Mike O'Shaughnessy, a spokesman for Ignatieff, said Friday. "As to what we would do in the future, that's obviously a huge hypothetical."
The leader's silence on the case, which comes amid speculation of a fall election, is in contrast to the position three of his Vancouver MPs have taken on Mikhail Lennikov's status in Canada.
Vancouver-South Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, Vancouver-Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry and Vancouver-Quadra Liberal MP Joyce Murray signed a petition requesting the Conservative government overturn Lennikov's deportation order.
Lennikov was to be returned to Russia in June but he failed to show up at the Vancouver International Airport. He's lived in the First Lutheran Church at East 41st and Wales since June 2.
The Vancouver politicians are among 36 MPs who signed the petition drawn up by Peter Julian, the NDP MP for Burnaby-New Westminster. The majority of the signatories are from the NDP, including Libby Davies (Vancouver-East) and Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway). Dona Cadman, the Conservative MP for Surrey-North, and members of the Bloc Quebecois also signed the petition.
Dosanjh has been the most vocal of the three Vancouver Liberal MPs on the Lennikov case. He has attended rallies and was the first of the three Vancouver Liberal MPs to sign the petition.
Dosanjh said he has not spoken to Ignatieff about the Lennikov case but added the Liberal leader is aware of his views, via the media. Dosanjh refused to say whether he believes Ignatieff should sign the petition.
"Look, he's the leader of the party, he makes his own decisions on these kinds of issues," he said. "He has not prevented me from signing and I've been speaking out on this issue."
If the Liberals form the next government in Canada, Dosanjh said he would be "working my butt off" to ensure the deportation order is overturned against Lennikov. He said Lennikov has led a "peaceful and constructive" life since he moved to Vancouver in 1997.
Three years ago, the Immigration and Refugee Board found Lennikov inadmissible to Canada because he was a member of an organization that engaged in espionage against a democratic government. Lennikov has argued he is not a spy and no threat to Canada because his five years in the KGB amounted to little more than work as a clerk and interpreter.
He told the Courier last month that if the Liberals take power in the next election, he would at least "hope for a review of my case." Ignatieff's refusal to discuss the case publicly doesn't concern Lennikov, who described his case as "politically charged." NDP leader Jack Layton has not signed the petition but his wife Olivia Chow, an NDP MP in Toronto, has.
On Sept. 10, the Federal Court of Canada will review Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan's refusal to overturn Lennikov's deportation order. Lennikov's wife Irina and son Dmitri remain at the family's apartment in Burnaby. The government has agreed in principle to allow them to remain in Canada.
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