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LEARNMOREATTHEGLOBEINSIDERS.CAA8 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019
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SONOFLIBYANDICTATOR
HELPEDCOMPANYMONTREALThe fraud and cor-
ruption trial of a former SNC-
Lavalin employee heard on
Friday how the son of the late
Libyan dictator, Moammar
Gadhafi, helped the Montreal-
based engineering firm collect
money from a lucrative con-
struction contract in the African
country.
Sami Bebawi, 73, faces eight
charges including fraud, corrup-
tion, laundering proceeds of
crime, possession of stolen
goods and bribery of foreign
officials in connection with
construction contracts tied to
the Gadhafi dictatorship during
the late 1990s. Mr. Bebawi has
pleaded not guilty. His trial is
scheduled to last six weeks.
Prosecutor Anne-Marie Mano-
ukian told the jurors on Thurs-
day the trial “is a case of in-
ternational fraud and corrup-
tion.” She said the accused
worked to obtain lucrative con-
tracts in Libya by paying bribes.
Ms. Manoukian said Saadi
Gadhafi, the son of the former
dictator, was one of the people
who benefited from the bribes.
The prosecution’s main wit-
ness, Riadh Ben Aissa, who used
to work for Mr. Bebawi in one of
SNC-Lavalin’s divisions, contin-
ued his testimony on Friday. Mr.
Ben Aissa testified about a con-
tract SNC-Lavalin had with a
company tasked with piping
water to coastal Libyan cities.
SNC-Lavalin wanted $100-
million from the company. Mr.
Ben Aissa said both Mr. Bebawi
and Jacques Lamarre, the chief
executive of the engineering
giant at the time, put “enor-
mous pressure” on him to col-
lect the money.
Mr. Ben Aissa said a contact
put him in touch with Saadi
Gadhafi in Tripoli.
Eventually both sides came to
a deal, Mr. Ben Aissa said, with
the company agreeing to a
handsome payment.
Mr. Ben Aissa’s testimony is to
continue on Monday.
THECANADIANPRESSFormer Liberal prime minister Paul Mar-
tin says he doesn’t understand why the
Trudeaugovernment is challenging an or-
der from a human rights tribunal to com-
pensate First Nations children who were
unnecessarily taken into the child-welfare
system.
In September, the Canadian Human
Rights Tribunal found that the federal
government willfully and recklessly dis-
criminated against Indigenous children
living on reserve by failing to provide
funding for child and family services. In
October, Ottawa filed an application for a
judicial review of the ruling, calling for
the compensation order to be quashed.
As prime minister from 2003 to 2006,
Mr. Martin brokered a deal to address gaps
in funding for Indigenous education and
health care, but it was scrapped by his
Conservative successor, Stephen Harper.
Mr. Martin has continued to champion In-
digenous rights.
“I don’t know whythe government has
taken this position,” Mr. Martin said in an
interview on Friday with The Globe and
Mail. “I was surprised.”
When thegovernment filed for the ju-
dicial review, Prime Minister Justin Tru-
deau said thegovernment “absolutely”
agrees compensation is required, but the
question is how it should roll out, and
that more time was needed to respond
than allowed under the tribunal’s time-
line — to have a proposal by Dec. 10.
The government’s own court filings dis-
pute the need for compensation. In the
documents, Ottawa agrees compensation
“can be made in appropriate circumstanc-
es” but this case is not among them.
“Awarding compensation to individu-
als in this claim, however, was inconsis-
tent with the nature of the complaint,”
the federal documents say.
The government said the compensa-
tion could cost $5-billion to $7.9-billion.
Cindy Blackstock, the executive direc-
tor of the First Nations Child and Family
Caring Society, brought the human rights
case in 2007, with the Assembly of First
Nations. The applicants said the discrimi-
natory funding meant many children
could not be cared for in their communi-
ty.
In a Friday interview, Ms. Blackstock ac-
cused Mr. Trudeau and thegovernment of
“double speak” on compensation, calling
it “inexcusable.” She urged the Prime Min-
ister to clarify Ottawa’s position.
Mr. Martin said a clear explanation for
the legal challenge has been missing.
“If what they’re actually doing is chal-
lenging the rights of the Indigenous peo-
ples, I don’t agree with that at all,” he said.
“If what they’re saying is we want to make
sure this is done the right way, then I be-
lieve the way in which it is done is up to
the Indigenous Peoples themselves.”
Indigenous Services Minister Seamus
O’Regan said in a statement on Friday
that the compensation order raised im-
portant questions and the challenge wasneeded to givethe government “clarity on
the ruling and time to have these con-
versations with our partners.”
In spite of the challenge of the order,
Mr. Martin defended Mr. Trudeau’s record,
calling hisgovernment “very progressive”
on Indigenous issues.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the
government wants to do the right thing,”
he said.
The tribunal’s September order said
Canada must provide compensation of up
to $40,000 to First Nations children who
were unnecessarily taken into care on or
after Jan. 1, 2006, adding that its orders
also cover parents or grandparents and
children denied essential services.
Now in a minoritygovernment, Mr.
Trudeau will need support from opposi-
tion parties, and NDP Leader Jagmeet
Singh said on Wednesday that one of his
party’s two main priorities will be for the
Liberals to drop the challenge.
The request for a stay will be heard on
Nov. 25.With a report from Kristy KirkupTrudeau’schallengeofrights-tribunal
ruling‘surprised’formerPMMartin
Governmentisappealing
decisionthatfailuretoprovide
child-and-familyserviceson
reserveswasdiscrimination
thatwarrantedcompensation
MARIEKE WALSHOTTAWA
Former prime minister Paul Martin says a clear explanation for the government’s challenge
of the compensation ruling is missing.MELISSATAIT/THEGLOBEANDMAIL| NEWS