That's Cool, 

Today marks another day where Syrian forces have massacred their own people. I wish to declare my utter disgust for the situation in Syria where people are being murdered by the thousands and it seems the whole world is watching. Last night I called a friend and had told them about how more people had died in Syria, they responded "that's cool". 

"That's cool" is this what we have become as a society? When we here that fellow people in a foreign country are being shelled by their government and killed - mothers, children, fathers, other human beings - is that our response? I do not think it is cool, the Syrian people are being murdered and people entering the country are being murdered. There is nothing cool about totalitarian regimes that use their security forces for mass murder of their own citizens. There is nothing cool about living in the streets with no home to sleep in. There is nothing cool about snipers shooting holes in water tanks so you cannot survive. There is nothing cool about 250-pound Russian issued mortars shelling the community you live in. There is nothing cool about watching your children die. There is nothing cool about being forced to stay in a city that they have been shelling and bombing for 18 days straight. There is nothing cool about people being murdered and the whole world watching and thinking "that's cool".

When I asked what was so cool, they said "Well, it sucks for them". Ya, it does suck for them. It sucks that their families are being murdered. It does suck that they have no food to eat. It does suck that as they lie dead in the streets. It does suck that we as a people who could work to help lobby our governments, could help provide relief to the Red Cross hoping that they will get a chance to provide relief this week, you could write letters to the Syrian Embassy, or could do one of a million things to help raise more awareness about this atrocious disaster. 

You know what sucks for them? They live in a country where their government will not listen to them, they live in a country where their government kills them for dissenting them, they live in a country that takes away the necessities to live in warfare, and they live in a country that does not care if they live or die. 

Ya know what really sucks for everyone? That we live in a world that doesn’t give a shit and that we live in a world that watches people die and thinks “that’s cool”.

Dear World,


Part one of the new C-10 Bill before the Senate as I write this post poses many challenges and I do not believe that this bill should be tabled by Parliament. It is a bill which as it reads sets to provide new tort law and civil action against terrorists and state actors in terrorism and/or non-state entities. The ability to sue a "single terrorist" is most likely going to fall short that is if you can find the person of interest or if they are even still alive, and if you can prove it.


The second part of the debate is whether the victims of terrorism have the ability to sue other sovereign states for being affiliated with forms of terror. This is a rather challenging aspect because you would most likely have a challenging time to prove that the state was involved in the act even if it was on the list of "states affiliated with terrorism", while that may be true I wish you much luck in proving their complicity. The third part of the debate which is Canadian courts ordering that sovereign states pay restitution to the victims is going to be most likely unsuccessful in actually obtaining your restitution as this in many aspects violates international law as was recognized by the ICJ (International Court of  Justice) recently when France had attempted to get Germany to provide restitution for actions from World War 2 to which they refused and it infringed their sovereignty.


I would also like to speak to the amount of money which you would have to provide your legal team to sue sovereign states and terrorists which would again most likely be not returned to you because in most cases you cannot get the restitution the court has ordered the state or the terrorist to pay. What does this mean? It means that the state that you reside in will most likely pay the awards with fund money and seized assets from other states and in return they will ask that you do not follow your suit anymore.


This idea that justice is being sought with this bill is in my view not the case, you will in most cases never face the person who caused your pain and in most cases will be offered a monetary award from the government. Victims who pursue these lawsuits will regret doing so in the end and in my view this bill provides no restoration of justice for the victims of terrorism.