Dr. Srdja Trifkovic, a scholar, author, and foreign affairs editor at Chronicles Magazine, was invited to speak at the University of British Columbia on February 24. His visit was vocally opposed by various Bosnian-Muslim lobbying groups, including one that calls itself the Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada.
Dr. Trifkovic was detained on arrival at Vancouver and some hours later sent back to the U.S. on the basis of apparently bogus accusations. The only people who have reason to "ban" him are those who seek, through lies, deceit and intimidation, to make our Canadian society less free and less open. CKCU 93.1 FM Monday's Encounter has contacted Dr. Trifkovic upon his return to Chicago in order to find out the reason behind his deportation from Canada.
What were their stated reasons for not allowing you to enter Canada?
The border agency personnel decided that I was, as they put it, a "proscribed senior official" of a government guilty of terrorism, genocide, or some major human rights violations. From the silly pro-forma interview to which I was subjected, I gather that they have reason to believe that I had occupied a senior government position in the Bosnian Serb Republic (i.e. the Republika Srpska) at the time of the civil war there. In view of what had preceded my trip, the controversy that various Bosnian Muslim front organizations had tried to create in connection with my UBS lecture, I have every reason to believe that this false information came from those quarters.
Were you ever a member of the Bosnian Serb government?
No. It would be really curious to find out what in their estimate my position was and what was the time span of my responsibility and who were the people under my command. The meaning of the term senior official is fairly loose, and to make such as specific allegation they would at least have to come up with some specific evidence, which they are unable to do. I have had a long-standing relationship with the authorities of the Republika Srpska . During the war, when I gave my many interviews on the subject of the trouble in the Balkans, I was invariably presented as a "foreign affairs analyst with close links to the Bosnian Serbs." The gap between having "close links" and occupying a position of institutionalized responsibility is indeed very wide.
Do you know who has signed the ban?
The decision itself is signed by the immediate immigration officer, which is neither here nor there. I have no doubt in my mind that the red flag attached to my name had been send by the field officers' political superiors some days in advance, as a consequence of the controversy surrounding my UBC lecture. When I arrived at the immigration desk, it was immediately obvious that the woman handling my passport – without even thinking about it – wrote on the customs slip the note that required me to report to their "secondary control."
Were you surprised, as an American citizen, to be barred from entering Canada?
Frankly I am, American citizen or not. I demand no special treatment for being an American, but this is ridiculous. I have been to Canada about two-dozens times since the Bosnian war, including trips to deliver lectures at different universities, such as the University of Toronto, Carleton University in Ottawa, and the universities of Waterloo and Alberta. I also had the honor of appearing as an expert witness before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons in Ottawa in February 2000. Later that summer I drove a thousand miles with my children for a vacation to a lake in Northern Ontario, which says something about my feelings for that country.
I have never violated any Canadian laws, to the best of my knowledge, and I have never been told that I may have done so. Of course I have never had any problems with border control. For them to discover now, almost two decades and over twenty visits later, that I am a threat to Canada's multicultural harmony is laughable. They allowed a threat called Srdja Trifkovic to roam around Canada unchecked, coast to coast, for all these years! The horror! But now they presumably hope it's over.
We pretty much know the true cause, of course. That the organs of the Canadian state would be reduced to the level of acting as water carriers and unthinking enforcers for an ethnic lobby seeking to curtail free speech and open debate in Canada is indeed tragic. I readily admit that this possibility had not crossed my mind.
You were held and interrogated for six hours at the Vancouver International Airport. How were you treated by the Canadian immigration officers?
I spent a total of six hours at the secondary control premises but I was not actually interrogated for all that time. The woman handling my case spent, maybe, less than one third of that time talking to me — and my distinct impression is that she was only going through the motions of conducting this interview. She was utterly out of her depth and obviously had not the quaintest idea of who was doing what to whom in the Balkans and what my case was all about. She even asked me at one point if the former President of Yugoslavia, Dr. Vojislav Kostunica, had been indicted for war crimes, and looked mildly incredulous at my assuring her that he remained free of any such taint. That gives you some indication of the depth of her ignorance. I think that it was only a pro forma interview because the decision to have me banned had been made at some higher political level prior to my coming. The interrogation was simply a choreographed farce to satisfy the form.
So, on whose request the Canadian authorities barred you from entering Canada?
I have every reason to believe that it was due to a massive campaign by the Islamist lobby in general and the Bosnian-Muslim lobby in particular. Let me single out the efforts of one of their front organizations that calls itself the Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada, which has accused me of being a "genocide denier" because I resolutely reject the Hague Tribunal's version of the events in Srebrenica in general and its designation as a "genocide" in particular. It is a different topic, of course, and not the one connected with the title of my scheduled lecture, which was The Balkans: uncertain prospects for an unstable region. Of course such single-issue ethnic lobbying organizations should not be allowed to impact the government policy. In this particular case they were. They were able to force a decision that concerns not just me personally, but also the principles of free speech and civilized discourse in Canada – the principles to which they themselves do not subscribe.
The same model of villification, inuendo and outright lies, once instituted, can be applied against anyone at any time. The fictitious nature of the reasons given for my exclusion indicates that the same technique is a blunt yet lethal weapon. It is ready for arbitrary use, Stasi-like, at any moment, at any point of entry. If an ethnically based lobby makes a fuss and the Canadian authorities obediently act upon their demands, it really bolds ill for the future of remains of free speech in Canada.
This is not the first time that something like this has happened. Remember the cases involving Ann Cutler, George Galloway MP from the UK, and others. This is turning in to a pattern. That pattern has to be unmasked for what it is. It is a form of creeping totalitarianism, which does no credit to Canada as a democratic society supposedly based upon the values that we all honour and subscribe to.
What opportunities legal or otherwise are you perusing in order for the ban to be lifted?
At this stage I will be focusing on having them schedule a speedy hearing at which I will try to have this decision overturned. After that I will considered my options. I have been slandered and the Canadian government has been a fellow conspirator and lead executor in this rather sordid operation. I would prefer not to comment on any further steps that I might take, however. We'll talk about that after the hearing to determine my status.
