US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA3588

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003588 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, CA, UNGA/C-3 
SUBJECT: CANADA FORMALIZES ITS OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH 
PENALTY 
 
1.  (U)  On November 25, Canada ratified the Second Optional 
Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights, in support of its long-standing opposition to the 
death penalty.  The treaty requires that parties abolish the 
death penalty within their respective jurisdictions.  The 
last execution in Canada took place in 1962, and the House of 
Commons abolished capital punishment on July 14, 1976. 
Canada voted in favor of the treaty when it was adopted by 
the UN General Assembly in 1989, and ratification formalizes 
the country's policy and practice. 
 
2.  (U)  In addition to this Protocol, Canada is a party to 
all six major international human rights conventions:  the 
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural 
Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 
Discrimination Against Women; the Convention Against Torture 
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or 
Punishment; the International Convention on the Elimination 
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on 
the Rights of the Child. 
 
3.  (U)  On December 2, Amnesty International organized a 
peaceful protest to mark the 1000th execution in the U.S. 
since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.  None of the 
major Canadian press noted either of last week's U.S. 
executions, although the nationally distributed Globe and 
Mail ran a front page story with the headline "Should Tookie 
Be Executed?:  The founder of the notorious Crips gang has 
become the flashpoint for the U.S. debate over capital 
punishment."  The Ottawa Citizen ran its story, "Not Everyone 
Wants to Save 'Tookie' Williams" on page 15. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS