US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA2451

S E C R E T OTTAWA 002451 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EUR(ROSSIN), EUR/SCI(GREGORIAN AND KOUMANS), 
S/WCI(PROSPER) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 (X1, X4, X6) 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, EFIN, CLOK, CVIS, CA, BK, KWAC, ICTY 
SUBJECT: CANADA: ENLISTING HELP IN TARGETING WAR CRIMINALS 
 
REF: STATE 245203 
 
Classified By: POLMIN COUNSELOR BRIAN FLORA, REASONS 1.5 (a), 
(c) and (d) 
 
1. (S) In response to reftel demarche, DFAIT Deputy Director 
for the Western Balkans Margaret Moores and Defense and 
Security Relations desk officer Kelly Anderson affirmed to 
poloff the GOC's commitment to seeing PIFWCs brought to 
justice.  Moores noted that while Canadian law precludes 
adoption of a "black list" targeting war criminals and their 
supporters, the GOC employs a rigorous and detailed screening 
process for visa applicants, including name-checks with law 
enforcement/intelligence sources. 
 
2. (S) Kelly Anderson, who follows Western Balkans issues in 
the NATO/NORAD Unit of her office, said that the GOC 
nonetheless does have the ability to blanket-designate 
members of a particular regime (which it has done in the case 
of Milosevic) for travel sanctions and restrictions.  One 
difficulty with this approach, however, is that the 
designation is "in perpetuity" and covers very senior 
political officials down to functionaries at the level of 
first secretary of a diplomatic mission.  Thus any 
bureaucrats surviving the fall of a regime to participate in 
a new government may require special waivers to subsequently 
travel to/through Canada. 
 
3. (S) Regarding the Trillium Foundation, Moores acknowledged 
the existence of an entity by that name in Hamilton, Ontario, 
as well as the "Hamilton Chapter" of an organization called 
Serbian Chetniks Ravna Gora (same name as entity in E.O. 
13304), ostensibly founded by Serbian immigrants who arrived 
in Canada post-WWII.  Serbian Chetniks Ravna Gora lists a 
Serbian Orthodox Church as its headquarters and bills itself 
as a "cultural, political and social organization" founded by 
veterans that "fought under General Mihajlovic during World 
War II against the Nazi and Communists."  The Trillium 
Foundation (named for the official flower of Ontario) appears 
to be a longstanding organization that operates as a regular 
recipient of Ontario provincial government funding for 
community-based activities.  According to Moores, unless the 
Foundation and Serbian Chetniks Ravna Gora are registered as 
federal not-for-profit organizations, investigation of their 
activities would come under the purview of the province and 
not/not the federal government, an area for the 
"intergovernmental process." 
 
4. (S) Moores said the Foundation came to the attention of 
DFAIT officials several weeks ago when an individual named 
Emir Ramic launched a letter-writing campaign with provincial 
and federal officials to discredit Trillium.  Ramic claims 
the position of "Vice President, Canada" of the Congress of 
North American Bosniaks (www.bosniak.org) based in the U.S. 
(NOTE: Access to parts of the website from SBU-internet at 
post appears to have been blocked due to Department Policy. 
END NOTE). According to Moores, Ramic has yet to substantiate 
his allegations.  The information in the Bosnian press 
article (reftel) tracks with what Ramic has claimed in his 
correspondence, although the fund transfer of USD 75,000 is 
actually a Canadian dollar amount.  Moores (protect) 
indicated that her office recently prepared a briefing 
package for Foreign Minister Graham, with whom Ramic has 
solicited a meeting (NFI).  She volunteered her personal view 
that Ramic seems to have a special agenda in trying to 
besmirch the reputation of the Trillium Foundation to cut off 
funding to the Serbian community group in Hamilton. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
KELLY