I begin by alerting the readers to the reality that given my age and physical condition, my memory to retain names is no longer what it was, and my ability to put events in their proper chronological order is also suffering. What remains vivid in my memory are the incidents that made a strong impression on me at the time that they occurred.
Here is the
saga of my give-and-take with former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney who
passed away yesterday leaving behind a legacy that historians will see as being
honorable given what he accomplished for the country that elected him to serve.
But when it came to handling my case and doing me justice, the saga shows a
number of gaps.
It all
began when the talk about the secession of Quebec from Canada was growing
louder in the English speaking community embedded in the French Canadian
Province of Quebec. Before you know it, a full blown movement by the French
separatists of the Province had risen, and was successfully pushing forward
their agenda.
Despite
being let down by Mulroney on two previous occasions with regard to the subject
of my persecution at the hands of the Canadian Jewish Congress and the RCMP, I
wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney supporting his position on
the referendum for separation that was proposed for Quebec.
Letting me
down happened once when my member of Parliament was Speaker of the House of
Commons. He tried to help me but Mulroney forced him to resign. And it happened
a second time when the President of the Unted States, Ronald Reagan pressured
Mulroney to resolve my case, and Mulrooney verbally attacked on the floor of
the House.
Still, to
my surprise, Mulroney wrote me a personal letter asking that I get involved in
the ensuing debate. I did just that in the hope that it will nudge him to work
on my case; one that had seen me tortured for several decades already. Little
did I know then that my action will trigger a series of happenings showing
moments of great triumph but also moments of great disappointment.
The
greatest moment of disappointment came to my attention when my writing
supporting the Mulroney position, was not going to help solve my problem. This
happened when everybody was hanging on to every word I wrote, yet a member of
the British Columbia Legislature who wanted to see me take full part in the
debate, complained that they were negotiating with a ghost. This meant that
Mulroney was going to maintain the demonic wall of silence.
As to the
greatest moment of triumph, it came when I solved a pernicious misunderstanding
that was threatening to sink the Mulroney position. Here is the reality:
In French,
there are the two words, “distinct and distingué.” In English there are the two
words, “distinct and distinguished.” The first word, “distinct” has the same meaning
in both languages. There can be no confusion there. As to the second word, it
means something different in each language. And so, when the separatists were demanding
that the English recognize Quebec as having a “distinct” culture that must be
taken into account, the English cried bloody murder, believing that the French
wanted to make themselves “distinguished” over the English.
When I
explained all that, reassuring the English that the French were not vying for
supremacy, the temperature was lowered dramatically, and the debate proceeded
normally. It is that a great deal had been lost in the translation, and I was
the one to repair the damage that ensued.
Even people as honorable as Brian Mulroney fear the power of the police state they are called upon to govern.