Canadian stranded in Sudan is on his way home

REUTERS PHOTO
Exiled Canadian Abousfian Abdelrazik in Khartoum June 26, 2009.
Jun 27, 2009 04:30 AM

THE CANADIAN PRESS
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

MONTREAL – Abousfian Abdelrazik has left Sudan and is on his way back to Canada.

The Canadian, who has been in exile in Sudan for six years, boarded a plane in
Khartoum to take him to Abu Dhabi. He is scheduled to arrive in Toronto this
afternoon and then head to Montreal to be reunited with his family.

The Conservative government said last week it would comply with a Federal Court
order to let Abdelrazik return to Canada.

Abdelrazik was arrested but not charged during a 2003 visit to Sudan to see his
ill mother.

He had been living in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum for months and Ottawa
refused him a passport on the grounds he remained on a United Nations terror
watch list.

No one has produced evidence to back up the UN allegations, Abdelrazik's lawyer,
Yavar Hameed, told Reuters in Khartoum before their plane left.

"It will be a huge relief when we get to Canada. I can't rest until that
happens," Hameed said.

Abdelrazik posed for photographs at Khartoum airport but declined to give a
statement ahead of his arrival in Canada.

Abdelrazik was born in Sudan and gained Canadian citizenship in 1995 after
entering the country as a refugee.

He returned to Sudan in 2003 to visit his sick mother and was arrested and held
by Sudanese authorities on two occasions.

Abdelrazik was freed in 2006 and has been living in the Canadian embassy in
central Khartoum since late April 2008. He has denied being a militant.

Federal Court Judge Russel Zinn ruled earlier this month that Canada's refusal
to assist Abdelrazik was a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which
says no Canadian can be deprived of the right to life, liberty and security.


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/657592

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Proud Canadian pays weak upper lip service to his Brit heritage
Jun 27, 2009 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor

One problem with writing for a newspaper is that you're seldom sure who's out
there reading you. Which is why feedback, in almost any form, is welcome.

There's one reader who for years has charmingly marked her approval of stories
by sending the writers Tim Hortons gift coupons.

I don't know if he's still around, but there also used to be a guy who expressed
his disapproval by mailing tokens of, shall we say, a rather more fundamental
nature. You quickly learned to recognize the writing on the envelope and to open
it very gingerly indeed, or not at all.

Now that I work from home, reader reaction comes mostly in the form of email.

It's hard to predict which column is going to garner a response, though I might
have guessed the piece I wrote several months ago about my cat's chin acne would
strike a chord.

I've had more than 200 emails about that one and, from time to time, they
continue to trickle in. No, he doesn't eat from a plastic bowl.

Similarly, there was a fair-sized response when I wrote about buying an
anti-snoring pillow. I gave what I thought was an extremely broad hint about the
department store's name. I was a little taken aback by the number of readers who
seemed unable to figure out that my reference to the fleshy appendages on the
sides of your head meant ears, which rhymes with ... oh, c'mon, try again! You
can do it.

I've been puzzling over what prompted one reader recently to send me this email:

"Hello, Bill.

"I have been reading your columns for many years. As a proud and unashamed Brit,
I'd like to say how much you fill me with disgust. Your consistent denial of
your heritage equates you with pond life.

"Regards ..."

And then it was signed, with full contact details. This was no cyber-sniper,
shooting from cover.

It's true, I do mention England sometimes, and not always in the fondest terms.
But if memory serves (it doesn't always), I haven't done that lately.

I'd describe myself as a proud and unashamed Canuck – British by accident of
birth, Canadian by choice.

I even did a bit of comparison shopping first.

Nine years in the United States left me with no desire for American citizenship.

I spent my first 25 years in England and I've lived in Canada for 27. Britain is
like a foreign country to me, and not my favourite. I certainly don't regard it
as "over 'ome."

But deny my heritage? I don't think so. I support the same soccer team –
Sunderland – that I grew up with. I drink Younger's Tartan beer when I can find
it here. And one of my favourite foods remains the noble "chip butty."

I'm also a Blue Jays fan, drink Sleeman and scarf down poutine.

I have a British passport, though it's long-expired and, before I could renew
it, I'd need to find it. I rather like having my Canadian passport stamped by a
Brit immigration officer with: "Leave to enter for six months. Employment and
recourse to public funds prohibited."

Maybe that makes me a bad person. I don't think so but at least my "pond life"
critic was upfront, courteous and not afraid to speak his mind.

I was equally polite in my reply. And compelled to ask why, if I've been filling
him with disgust all these years, he keeps reading me.

Must be that classic British stiff upper lip. I used to have one of those. If
memory serves.

billtaylor2@...


http://www.thestar.com/living/article/655502

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Heather Graham, Johnny Knoxville join Spacey film
Borys Kit, Hollywood Reporter
Published: Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Kevin Spacey will star in and produce "Father of Invention," an ensemble comedy
whose cast includes Heather Graham as a lesbian who sleeps with his character.

The story follows a humble inventor-turned-egomaniacal billionaire (Spacey) who
spends eight years in prison when one of his inventions goes awry. Upon release,
he is seeks to rebuild his reputation and fortune but finds that easier than
salvaging his relationship with his family.

Craig Robinson ("The Office") will play the husband of the former billionaire's
ex-wife who now lives in his house and drives his car and helps Spacey get back
on his feet after he gets out of prison.

Brazilian actress Camilla Belle ("Push") will play his daughter, a social worker
hesitant to trust her father, while Graham ("The Hangover") is her lesbian
roommate. Johnny Knoxville ("Killshot") will play a store manager who hires
Spacey's character after his prison stint.

Production begins this week in New Orleans. Spacey is producing through his
Trigger Street banner.

© Thomson Reuters 2009.


http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=1728182

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