Articles by Michelle Zilio

Mar 6 2019 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Liberal MPs blocked an effort by the opposition on Wednesday to immediately invite Jody Wilson-Raybould back to a parliamentary committee to speak further about the government’s effort to put pressure on her to shelve the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., despite the former justice minister’s willingness to testify again. Rather, Liberal members of the […]

Mar 4 2019 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — More than half of Canadians say fraud and corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. should go to a criminal trial rather than a negotiated settlement where the Montreal engineering and construction giant would pay fines and avoid prosecution, according to a new survey. The numbers, provided exclusively to The Globe and Mail and CTV News, […]

Jan 25 2019 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke with Juan Guaido to congratulate him on unifying opposition forces in Venezuela, two weeks before he declared himself interim president. Separately, Ottawa was told by opposition groups, former diplomats and Venezuelan émigré to expect a major announcement on Wednesday, the 61st anniversary of the end of a Venezuela military […]

Jan 11 2019 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — A Canadian delegation was among a group of high-profile targets that a man now convicted of terrorism planned to attack in Jerusalem last year, according to the Israel Security Agency. Muhammad Jamal Rashdeh was sentenced to 11 years in prison in connection with the plot, The Times of Israel reported on Thursday. Israel’s internal security […]

Jan 3 2019 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Thirteen Canadians have been detained in China since the high-profile arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on Dec. 1, according to a Canadian government official. A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson, Guillaume Bérubé, confirmed the detentions in a statement to The Globe and Mail. Until Thursday, only three Canadians – Michael Kovrig, Michael Spavor […]

Dec 6 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen’s office says the federal government will temporarily extend the one-year period for Yazidi genocide survivors in Canada to reunite with their surviving family members who are still languishing in Iraq. Mr. Hussen’s press secretary, Mathieu Genest, said the government is developing a temporary extension of the one-year window for survivors of […]

Oct 30 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says Canada has no legal responsibility to repatriate Canadian citizens detained by Kurdish forces in Syria, despite pleas from their families to help get them out of the war zone. Mr. Goodale said on Tuesday that Canada will not put its officials at risk by sending them into Syria to […]

Oct 25 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — When he was justice minister in 2014, Peter MacKay signed off on Hassan Diab’s extradition to France without any guarantees that consular officials would monitor the Canadian academic’s high-profile trial and despite concerns he could face an unfair process in the European country. Mr. Diab, an Ottawa sociology professor, went on to spend three years […]

Oct 22 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Renowned international human-rights lawyer Irwin Cotler is nominating Syria’s famed White Helmets, a group of volunteer humanitarian workers Canada helped rescue from the war-torn country, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Oct 22 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Germany is freezing arms exports to Saudi Arabia as Riyadh faces a growing chorus of international condemnation over the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate and near-universal disbelief over the kingdom’s shifting explanations for his death. Leaders in the world’s capitals, from Washington to Berlin to Ottawa, lined up on the […]

Oct 17 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says Canadians who travel to war zones to join “vicious” terrorist groups must accept the consequences of their decision and that the lives of Canadian consular officials will not be put in danger to help them if they want to leave. Mr. Goodale made the comments on Parliament Hill on […]

Sep 23 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will promote Canada’s commitment to female education, tackling climate change and unlocking private-sector investment in the developing world at the United Nations this week – attractive priorities for many countries that Canada is seeking support from in its bid for a UN Security Council seat.

Sep 18 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — More than 100 legal experts, civil-society organizations and human-rights advocates are urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government to declare the violent campaign against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar genocide. In a letter to Mr. Trudeau on Monday, the signatories called on the Liberal government to “live up to Canada’s international legal obligations under the […]

Sep 13 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — Border Security Minister Bill Blair says money set aside in this year’s federal budget to hire 64 new adjudicators for the refugee system will reduce the 20-month wait for a hearing, but the independent tribunal that oversees the process says the extra staff will at most slow the growth of the queue.

Sep 12 2018 — Michelle Zilio — Globe and Mail — The wait time for a refugee claim hearing in Canada increased more than a third over the past two years, to 19 months, as more than 30,000 asylum seekers arriving via unauthorized border crossings placed significant pressure on the system. Overwhelmed by the number of migrants, the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) has only managed […]