CANADA: ENLISTING HELP IN TARGETING WAR CRIMINALS

S E C R E T OTTAWA 002451

SIPDIS

FOR EUR(ROSSIN),EUR/SCI(GREGORIAN AND KOUMANS),
S/WCI(PROSPER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 (X1, X4, X6)
TAGS: PREL MOPS EFIN CLOK CVIS CA BK KWAC ICTY
SUBJECT: CANADA: ENLISTING HELP IN TARGETING WAR CRIMINALS

REF: STATE 245203

Classified By: POLMIN COUNSELOR BRIAN FLORA, REASONS 1.5 (a),
(c) and (d)


1. (S) In response to reftel demarche, DFAIT Deputy Director
for the Western Balkans Margaret Moores and Defense and
Security Relations desk officer Kelly Anderson affirmed to
poloff the GOC's commitment to seeing PIFWCs brought to
justice. Moores noted that while Canadian law precludes
adoption of a "black list" targeting war criminals and their
supporters, the GOC employs a rigorous and detailed screening
process for visa applicants, including name-checks with law
enforcement/intelligence sources.


2. (S) Kelly Anderson, who follows Western Balkans issues in
the NATO/NORAD Unit of her office, said that the GOC
nonetheless does have the ability to blanket-designate
members of a particular regime (which it has done in the case
of Milosevic) for travel sanctions and restrictions. One
difficulty with this approach, however, is that the
designation is "in perpetuity" and covers very senior
political officials down to functionaries at the level of
first secretary of a diplomatic mission. Thus any
bureaucrats surviving the fall of a regime to participate in
a new government may require special waivers to subsequently
travel to/through Canada.


3. (S) Regarding the Trillium Foundation, Moores acknowledged
the existence of an entity by that name in Hamilton, Ontario,
as well as the "Hamilton Chapter" of an organization called
Serbian Chetniks Ravna Gora (same name as entity in E.O.
13304),ostensibly founded by Serbian immigrants who arrived
in Canada post-WWII. Serbian Chetniks Ravna Gora lists a
Serbian Orthodox Church as its headquarters and bills itself
as a "cultural, political and social organization" founded by
veterans that "fought under General Mihajlovic during World
War II against the Nazi and Communists." The Trillium
Foundation (named for the official flower of Ontario) appears
to be a longstanding organization that operates as a regular
recipient of Ontario provincial government funding for
community-based activities. According to Moores, unless the
Foundation and Serbian Chetniks Ravna Gora are registered as
federal not-for-profit organizations, investigation of their
activities would come under the purview of the province and
not/not the federal government, an area for the
"intergovernmental process."


4. (S) Moores said the Foundation came to the attention of
DFAIT officials several weeks ago when an individual named
Emir Ramic launched a letter-writing campaign with provincial
and federal officials to discredit Trillium. Ramic claims
the position of "Vice President, Canada" of the Congress of
North American Bosniaks (www.bosniak.org) based in the U.S.
(NOTE: Access to parts of the website from SBU-internet at
post appears to have been blocked due to Department Policy.
END NOTE). According to Moores, Ramic has yet to substantiate
his allegations. The information in the Bosnian press
article (reftel) tracks with what Ramic has claimed in his
correspondence, although the fund transfer of USD 75,000 is
actually a Canadian dollar amount. Moores (protect)
indicated that her office recently prepared a briefing
package for Foreign Minister Graham, with whom Ramic has
solicited a meeting (NFI). She volunteered her personal view
that Ramic seems to have a special agenda in trying to
besmirch the reputation of the Trillium Foundation to cut off
funding to the Serbian community group in Hamilton.

Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa

KELLY