Kathleen Ruff"The report by Richard Sanders in the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade's latest magazine documents the shameful history of how at different times Canadian governments have made use of internment camps, forced labour and deportation in order to silence, intimidate and oppress large numbers of citizens because of their ethnic background or because they were seeking to improve the terrible working conditions and exploitation of workers of the time and were seeking to advance social justice. This history is largely unknown, as is the fact that so many political leaders – including members of the CCF – were complicit and failed to oppose these appalling injustices.
"We need to bring this history to light and we need to learn important lessons on how to prevent such crimes and such complicity."
Kathleen Ruff is a long-time campaigner for human rights and was an early activist with the Voice of Women and the Victoria Status of Women Action Group. She was a founder of the Canadian Human Rights Reporter, and a former director of the Court Challenges Program of Canada and the BC Human Rights Commission. She founded RightOnCanada.ca and is the founder and coordinator of the Rotterdam Convention Alliance, whose members work to control the global trade in hazardous chemicals. In June 2016, she received the Quebec National Assembly's medal for efforts to stop Canada's deadly trade in asbestos.
