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OTTAWA, June 30 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy today announced that Bill C-19, the   Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which incorporates the provisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Canadian legislation, has received Royal Assent.  Confirming the alarming redictions that the court would strip sovereignty from Canadian law for international law, Axworthy said, “We have now succeeded in enshrining its provisions in our own criminal law, thereby ensuring that no person in Canada who has committed crimes against humanity will escape justice.”

Various Senators objected to the lightning fast speed at which the upper chamber was forced to pass   the legislation.  According to Senator Anne Cools, “The bill is condemned by the committee’s own report. I am sure other senators have put this fact on the record. The tenth report of the   committee expresses great regret that the committee did not have sufficient time, and then it turns   around a few lines later and states that the subject matter should be studied for three years. It   seems to me that this is an extremely serious matter. The committee report has said that these   matters are deserving of study and, in point of fact, matters to which the committee itself did not   give sufficient attention. That is very serious and, to my mind, very damning.”

During House debate on the bill Gurmant Grewal, the Alliance’s chief foreign affairs critic noted   that not only does the legislation give up Canadian sovereignty, it does so without the final rules   and regulations of the ICC being defined. “This is a travesty of democracy. Bill C-19 requires   Canadians to support something that is still under negotiation by the international community,” said   Grewal.

Grewal said that a Canadian Alliance government would repeal the bill. He noted that the Liberal   government rejected an amendment to the bill that would have prevented the handing over of Canadian sovereignty. The government rejected the addition of the following lines: “notwithstanding anything (in) this act, Canada’s national sovereignty is to be protected” and “international law is not to be permitted to supersede Canadian law”.

One warning of critics, that the International Criminal Court creates a one world government mechanism, is borne out by the fact that law is the function of government and the ICC will supercede all national laws and decisions of democratically elected legislatures. In fact, the absolute supremacy of the ICC over Canadian law is indicated in the explanatory material on the bill released by the Canadian government: “It would not be a defence that an offence was committed in obedience to the law   in force at the time and in the place of its commission.” This position is compounded by the fact that once the ICC is in place (when 60 countries ratify it) it will have universal jurisdiction in the eyes of its adherents, even over those countries which object to it.

Canada is at least the 15th country to have ratified the Rome Statute. The full 60 ratifications are   expected by December this year.

See LifeSite’s critique of Bill C-19:
Liberals To Impose International Criminal Court In Bill
International Criminal Court Prepcom Commences