Canada to make Burma's dissident leader an honorary citizen
Last Updated: Sunday, May 4, 2008 | 10:35 PM ET
CBC News
Canada will grant honorary citizenship to Burma's detained dissident leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Monday in recognition of her tireless struggle for human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian country.
(CBC)Canada will grant honorary citizenship to Burma's detained dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday in recognition of her tireless struggle for human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian country.
The military regime in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has kept the Nobel Peace Prize recipient in prison or under house arrest for much of the past 18 years, and has refused to recognize the election win by her party, the National League for Democracy, in 1990.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier will present the honorary citizenship certificate to Suu Kyi's cousin, Sein Win, at a ceremony on Parliament Hill on Monday afternoon. Win is chairman of the party's government in exile in Washington.
Last October, Canadian politicians passed a motion in the House of Commons to make Suu Kyi an honorary citizen, which has only been granted to three other people: former South African president Nelson Mandela, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and the Dalai Lama.
In her throne speech, Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean said, "her long struggle to bring freedom and democracy to the people of Burma has made her the embodiment of ideals and an inspiration to all of us."
'Sending a strong signal'
But making her an honorary citizen may work against her, particularly since it comes just days before a crucial referendum on a new constitution in Burma, one analyst said.
"The military junta in power becomes very annoyed with this sort of thing, and it tends to make them much more sort of obdurate in what freedoms they would even consider granting her," said Bruce Matthews, emeritus professor at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
Suu Kyi's supporters, including her party's Canadian representative, said Ottawa is taking a strong moral stand with this distinction.
"This is sending a strong signal to the Burmese people that Canadians do not forget them," Tin Mustafa Aung said.
Canada is not the only country to bestow such honours to Suu Kyi, who has come be known as Burma's Nelson Mandela. Earlier this year, Congress in the United States gave her the Congressional Gold Medal, the country's highest civilian honour. Entertainers in Hollywood also launched an online public awareness campaign for Burma at www.burmaitcantwait.org.
