Premier Jason Kenney takes aim at Amnesty International Canada in letter

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Premier Jason Kenney fired back at Amnesty International Canada Thursday after the organization argued in an open letter that the UCP government’s fight against oil and gas industry opponents puts human rights at risk.

Secretary general Alex Neve’s letter Tuesday focused on Alberta’s public inquiry into foreign funding of environmental groups and its $30-million war room to combat critics.

“Amnesty International is deeply concerned that these initiatives undermine and violate a range of Alberta’s human rights obligations, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international law, including freedom of expression, freedom of association, the rights of Indigenous peoples and gender equality,” Neve wrote.

Kenney responded in a lengthy letter of his own, pointing to human rights abuses in Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

“They — along with Iran — would be major beneficiaries of a moratorium on Canadian oil production,” he wrote.

“Shutting down Alberta’s oil industry means more global supply — including much of the oil imported to Canada’s east coast — will be sourced from the world’s worst human rights abusers, instead of from the most ethical and best-regulated industry in one of the freest countries in the world.”

He also accused Amnesty of drifting from its core mission.

“When I joined Amnesty International, it was because you fought for prisoners of conscience in dictatorial regimes,” he wrote. “Today, you are fighting on the side of foreign billionaires trying to shut down an industry on which hundreds of thousands of hard-working men and women depend.”

Read the full letter from Amnesty International here.

Read the full letter from Premier Jason Kenney here.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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