VZCZCXRO8975
PP RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #0640 1292132
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 082132Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7827
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000640 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/SEA AND WHA/CAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM PREL CA
SUBJECT: MISSION CANADA OUTREACH TO DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS 
 
REF: A. STATE 44903 
 
     ¶B. OTTAWA 621 
     ¶C. QUEBEC CITY 013 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Mission Canada personnel regularly engage 
democracy activists, notably from  Burma, Somalia, Sudan, and 
Belarus,.  Our outreach has helped to empower groups whose 
links to their home country can make a difference on the 
margins in the development of democracy and stability.  On 
occasions, our involvement has served to prod the government 
of Canada to do more.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) BURMA: The Political Section maintains close contact 
with the "Friends of Burma," an exile group working to raise 
awareness of the human rights situation inside Burma and to 
urge the Canadian government to take a stronger stand to help 
the people of Burma.  Its advocacy, along with encouragement 
from Embassy, led Canada to impose stronger sanctions against 
the junta, to develop a more forceful policy on Burma, and, 
most recently, to offer generous humanitarian assistance in 
the wake of Cyclone Nargis (ref b). ConGen Calgary has met 
with Burmese dissident leaders from the Shan region.  CG 
Quebec City participated in a Canadian government-organized 
conference on Burma on March 27 (ref c), featuring UN Special 
Rapporteur Ibrahim Gambari and numerous Canada-based 
activists on Burma. 
 
¶3. (SBU) SOMALIA: Ambassador met with visiting Somali 
official delegations from the Transitional Federal Government 
(TFG), including the Minister of Trade and Minister of 
Foreign Affairs.  Emboffs have been the only foreign 
diplomats invited to join dinners and discussions with these 
delegations that Members of Parliament (MPs) have organized. 
Poloffs recently worked closely with the Friends of Somalia 
to help the NGO achieve a higher profile in support of the 
TFG.  At our suggestion, the group will host a conference in 
mid-May to raise awareness of the problems faced by the TFG; 
a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs has 
agreed to represent the State Department (after we forwarded 
the invitation), along with a former Canadian Prime Minister, 
six MPs, several Somali ministers, and Diaspora leaders from 
Canada.  ConGen Toronto also meets frequently with Somali 
leaders from the sizable Somali Diaspora community in 
suburban Toronto. 
 
¶4. (SBU) SUDAN: Poloffs meet often with the Sudanese exile 
who heads the Ottawa-based Canadian Friends of Sudan, which 
advocates greater awareness of the Darfur genocide and 
problems in ending the North-South conflict.  The Friends of 
Sudan is an apolitical NGO with considerable support on 
Parliament Hill, linked into the wider international effort 
to pressure the Sudanese government.  It has been very 
effective in Canada in raising the profile of the Sudan issue 
and countering propaganda by the Khartoum regime. 
 
¶5. (SBU) BELARUS:  Emboffs have met with a variety of 
Belarussian dissidents resident in Canada, usually when they 
are in Ottawa for meetings with Canadian government officials 
and MPs, and have helped them to set up appropriate meetings 
in Washington. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  TIBET:  PolMinCouns has met with the head of the 
Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, who is also the chairman of 
the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, to discuss 
USG concerns about recent events. 
 
Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada 
 
RODDY