Cablegate: Canada: Response to Demarche On Oas Working Group

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

102043Z May 05

UNCLAS OTTAWA 001412

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR USOAS/HUGH NEIGHBOUR, DRL/MICHAEL BUTLER,
DRL/CHRIS CAMPONOVO, DRL/JULIE SCHECTER, IO/MARK LAGON,
L/BOB HARRIS, WHA/CAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM AORC CA USOAS
SUBJECT: CANADA: RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON OAS WORKING GROUP
ON RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION

REF: STATE 082983

1. (U) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Pamela Moore,
Senior Policy Officer at Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC), on May
5. Moore thanked us for the points, and advised that she
would review the demarche with her colleagues at FAC,
including Marie Gervais-Vidricaire, Director General of the
Global Affairs Branch.

2. (SBU) In a follow-up conversation on May 10, Moore
advised poloff that FAC continues to share many of the USG
concerns outlined in the demarche Nevertheless, she said
that FAC has now concluded that it is time to engage the OAS
on this issue, and reiterated to poloff that the GoC no
longer opposes in principle an OAS working group to prepare
an Inter-American Convention against Racism and all Forms of
Discrimination and Intolerance. However, Moore emphasized
that the GoC will be taking a cautious approach, and that any
subsequent agreement must address the broad range of
discrimination issues while not altering or otherwise
subverting existing international agreements.

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http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa

DICKSON

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