The Justice Minister came under pressure Wednesday from the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and Jewish advocates to replace Ottawa’s newly appointed human-rights chief, saying Birju Dattani no longer commands the confidence of people he could be defending from discrimination.
The Conservatives said Mr. Dattani should stand aside as the new chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission or be fired, after his activities while studying in England under the name Mujahid Dattani raised serious concerns among Jewish groups about whether he would be impartial in his new role.
Bloc justice critic Rhéal Fortin suggested Mr. Dattani’s position as chief commissioner, to begin in August, is now untenable. “It seems clear that Mr. Dattani, before even arriving in his post, has already lost the confidence of the people he is supposed to represent and protect from discrimination,” he said.
“It seems clear to us that he can no longer carry out his mandate as chair and the minister has to take the necessary decisions as quickly as possible.”
Jewish groups, including the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, say tweets Mr. Dattani has posted and his sharing of platforms in Britain with people with extremist views raised questions about Ottawa’s vetting process. In London, while studying, he shared a stage with a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist fundamentalist group banned in Britain that favours global Sharia law. Mr. Dattani said he was unaware he would be appearing with a Hizb ut-Tahrir member.
In 2015, Mr. Dattani also spoke at a panel discussion about the War on Terror alongside Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, and outreach director of CAGE International, an advocacy group set up to raise awareness of the situation of prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.
Justice Minister Arif Virani’s spokesperson, Chantalle Aubertin, said the minister is “launching a formal, independent review.”
“He is deeply concerned about statements and social-media posts attributed to Mr. Dattani as well as the fact that these were not provided in the appointment process and not surfaced in due diligence,” she said. “It is important that facts of the situation be determined in a procedurally fair and unbiased manner. The formal review will result in a public report.”
The report will be concluded before Aug. 8, when Mr. Dattani is scheduled to assume the chief commissioner role.
In order to remove him from the role a resolution would need to be passed by both the House of Commons and the Senate, which are on their summer break.
Mr. Dattani did his postgraduate studies in England. He was interviewed in November, 2012, at a demonstration in London outside the Israeli embassy in response to Israeli air strikes that killed, among others, Hamas military commander Ahmad al-Jabari. He was quoted in an article saying, “Workers should boycott Israel and Israeli goods,” but he told The Globe and Mail he was misquoted and the words attributed to him were spoken by someone else standing near him at the demonstration.
While studying in England about 10 years ago, Mr. Dattani posted a tweet saying, “Palestinians are Warsaw Ghetto Prisoners of Today,” linking to an article of that name. Mr. Dettani told The Globe he did not agree with that statement and was just linking to the article.
Earlier this week, in an interview with The Globe, he apologized to members of the Jewish community for pain caused by tweets he had posted.
But Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and chief executive officer of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his apology is “not accepted.”
“Dattani is not an appropriate choice for the important position at the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the offer should be rescinded,” he said.
He said he was disappointed by the way Mr. Dattani had responded to questions about his past activities and tweets.
“The pattern is as predictable as it is disingenuous. First, he denies. Then he claims it wasn’t me, I just happened to be there. Then the apology is for pain some Jews might have experienced. But never is it ownership of the toxic words,” Mr. Koffler Fogel said.
On Wednesday, the Conservatives accused the Liberals, NDP and Bloc of shutting down their proposal for an emergency meeting of the Commons justice committee on Mr. Dattani’s appointment, by failing to agree to return to Parliament.
But some Liberal MPs broke ranks to call for the government to launch deeper probes into Mr. Dattani’s past.
Anthony Housefather, a member of the justice committee, said he is “extremely troubled by the information that has surfaced regarding Mr. Dattani’s past conduct,” and had asked the Department of Justice to launch an independent investigation.
Former public safety minister Marco Mendicino said Mr. Dattani’s statements and tweets raised serious concerns. “We need immediate answers on why the chair did not disclose these statements, why they weren’t independently discovered during the vetting, and whether the public can maintain confidence in the chair’s suitability to fulfill a role that requires impartiality in the adjudication of human rights.”
Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy at the Jewish organization B’nai Brith Canada, said it is clear Mr. Dattani was not “adequately vetted” before being offered the role.
“B’nai Brith hopes that a review of Mr. Dattani is being taken by our national security apparatus and if the allegations are verified and more information is uncovered of additional concern that the government would do the right thing and remove him from office.”