Earlier this week the attention of Americans and Canadians was on the inauguration of Barack Obama. What might have slipped their attention was the decision by Canada Border Services Agency to prevent a former neighbor of Mr Obama's from entering our dominion.
William Ayers, sometimes described as 'a 60's radical' is an education professor at the University of Illinois. He had been scheduled to speak at the Centre for Urban Schooling at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Ayers was philosophical about the refusal to allow him entry: "The border guards reviewed some stuff and said I wasn't going to be allowed into Canada. ... If it were me, I would have let me in. I couldn't possibly be a threat to Canada."
The decision to bar Ayers seems odd, given that he has been back and forth to Canada on a number of occasions in the past for speaking engagements in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.
During the US presidential election Ayers was repeatedly attacked by Republican vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. She characterized Obama's associations with Ayers as 'palling around with domestic terrorists'.
In the course of the campaign Palin had difficulty getting her facts straight at the best of times, and her version of William Ayers was no exception. In 1995 in Chicago, Ayers organized a meet-the-candidate coffee session in his home for Obama, who at the time was running for the state senate. The two men lived in the same neighborhood. They also worked on Chicago school reform and served on the same charity board together.
The 60's are long behind us and Ayers has shown himself to be a man with exceptional devotion to public service, noted for his work in educational reform. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books. In 1997 he was named Chicago Citizen of the Year and has advised Mayor Daley on school reform.
The decision to ban William Ayers from entering Canada is petty and embarrassing. Let's hope NDP Immigration critic, Olivia Chow, has some success when she asks Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to review the decision so that Professor Ayers can deliver his lecture.
