....And What's This We See, Arranging A Meeting With Known Chinese Drug Lords!!!
Canada’s immigration system failed to uphold the law when it allowed a notorious tycoon linked to drugs and dictators into the country to be wined and dined by our politicians.
That’s what the federal government is admitting now after last week’s column on Steven Law, a controversial Burmese businessman officially blacklisted by the United States but welcomed warmly to Canada this month.
Law was part of an Asian trade delegation hosted by Abbotsford MP Ed Fast, the federal minister of international trade. The trade mission travelled to Toronto and Vancouver, where delegates met with Premier Christy Clark and B.C. cabinet minister Teresa Wat.
Law is a “Specially Designated National” in the United States, meaning his U.S. assets are frozen by the federal government and American citizens are banned from doing business with him.
The reason: The U.S. Treasury Department says he was part of a criminal narcotics empire once controlled by his late father and he was a key supporter of Burma’s former military dictators, condemned around the world for appalling human-rights infractions.
Law does not face similar economic sanctions in Canada, but the government still admits it was a mistake to roll out the red carpet for him.
“Canadian immigration officials failed to do their job properly screening this individual under our immigration laws,” said Adam Hodge, press secretary for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
Fast’s office is also upset Law was let in.
“The fact that this individual entered Canada concerns us,” said Shannon Gutoskie, Fast’s press secretary.
Steven Law’s late Chinese father, Lo Hsing Han, was one of the most powerful heroin dealers in the world. According to The Economist magazine, he specialized in peddling ultra-pure “China White” heroin, all with the approval of the former military junta that ruthlessly ruled Burma.
“Lo Hsing Han, known as the ‘Godfather of Heroin,’ has been one of the world’s key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in 2010 statement.
“Steven Law joined his father’s drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the wealthiest individuals in Burma.”
Law arrived in Canada on June 1, travelling with the official Burmese delegation. He attended official events in Toronto and a luncheon in Vancouver hosted by Teresa Wat, B.C.’s minister of international trade.
The B.C. government said Law did not sit with Wat at lunch, but she may have met him at the event, which included representatives of 10 Asian countries. The government says Premier Christy Clark did not meet Law, though Clark did attend a trade-mission event.
“The province takes care to ensure it is meeting with appropriate government or business representatives,” the B.C. government said in a statement.
“In this particular case, the responsibility for identification, recruitment and vetting of the business delegation for a pan-Canadian visit that included a stop in B.C., resided with the federal government.”
Officials said Law came to Canada using his Chinese name, Lo Ping Zhong. He identified himself as representing a small mining company, and not Asia World, the giant and powerful business conglomerate he controls.
But critics say that’s no excuse for entertaining a supporter of one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Burma’s former military rulers were accused of gross abuses, including the forced relocation of citizens, use of child soldiers, state-sanctioned rape, widespread corruption and other outrages.
“The visit by Steven Law is really quite concerning,” said David Scott Mathieson, a researcher with Human Rights Watch in New York.
“It’s a regrettable development that a businessman with long standing ties to Burma’s military and suspected involvement in illicit activity in Burma is visiting Canada.
“Asia World has clearly benefited from Steven Law’s relationship with the generals over many years, and it is odd that the United States bars his entry on these grounds but Canada welcomes him.”
Critics slammed both the federal and B.C. governments for not doing a better job vetting their guest list.
“Where was the due diligence?” asked NDP MLA Bruce Ralston.
“There’s an obligation on governments to check out the people they’re dealing with,” said Ralston.
Western governments have been repairing their relations with Burma, also known as Myanmar, because the country has introduced democratic reforms and freedoms.
Economic sanctions are being relaxed, and western governments and businesses are anxious to exploit Burma’s considerable reserves of oil, gas, minerals and timber.
But Ed Fast himself warned Canadian business leaders to be careful who they climb into bed with in Burma.
“We strongly encourage Canadian companies to exercise great caution and ensure that if they enter this market, they have trusted partners that show the highest level of integrity,” the federal trade minister said in 2012.
It’s too bad Fast didn’t follow his own advice.
The moral of the story here is that Canada and B.C. must do a better job researching our potential offshore business partners.
That’s especially true at a time when B.C. has put its natural resources up for grabs to foreign buyers, including Christy Clark’s $1-trillion gold rush in liquefied natural gas. The government has a moral and ethical duty to make sure it’s not selling publicly-owned resources to foreign thugs and criminals, not to mention that it’s simply good business practice.
The bizarre visit of Steven Law to Canada and B.C. still raises unanswered questions. Ottawa says it was the government of Burma that brought him here as part of their delegation, but inquiries to the Burmese embassy in Ottawa were not returned.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, meanwhile, has so far not explained how such a notorious figure was illegally let into the country and accorded VIP treatment by politicians who should know better.
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