By IPS Correspondents
WINNIPEG, Aug 2 2003 (IPS)

Over 800 delegates, who attended a church conference in Canada, have begun returning home without the chance of meeting their 35 colleagues from Africa and Asia who were denied visa.

The Canadian immigration officials refused to grant them visa to attend the Tenth Lutheran World Federation (LWF) conference held in Winnipeg from Jul. 21 to Jul. 31.

Before leaving Canada, the delegates marched to the immigration office in Winnipeg to express their feelings to the Canadian authorities.

Earlier, the delegates draped red and blue scarves over the backs of empty chairs at the LWF assembly as tribute to their colleagues who should have been there but were not.

The scarves – red for Asia, blue for Africa – symbolised participants at the LWF assembly who had not received visas to come to Canada for the event.

Those refused visas are from Ethiopia, Madagascar, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Rwanda, Cameroon, Philippines, India and Indonesia. India was the most affected, with 26 people locked out.

"The fact that those who did not get visas are from Third World countries raises the issue of double standards," said one delegate who requested anonymity. "We are not free from racial discrimination yet – we have a long way to go."

Indeed, delegates from Sweden, or Germany, had no visa problem to Canada.

The immigration department refused to issue the visas on grounds that the delegates might overstay, or abscond, coming from poor countries. LWF did not take this kindly as it had committed itself to supplying supporting letters and meeting all expenses in Canada.

Since its first assembly in 1947, LWF said no participant has ever failed to return to their home country.

An editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press implied that the Canadian authorities had employed racism in their issuance of the visas. "(The government) is imposing a visa policy which is racist in its impact since they let white people in and keep non-white people out," it noted.

"The practical effect of their highly selective slamming of the door is that world-wide bodies that seek to bring together people from rich and poor countries, from North and from South, must find somewhere else to meet because there is no place for them in Canada," it added.

The move, it said, was no error, but one that was absolutely deliberate and well calculated to exclude from Canadian soil conference delegates whose skin colour and economic circumstances did not suit the tastes of government.

But Manitoba’s Minister of Veterans Affairs, Rey Pagtakhan denied there was racism in granting visa.

Manitoba, where Winnipeg is situated, has played host to a number of international events, including the 1999 Pan-American Games, and has never experienced a situation such as this before, Premier Gary Doer was quoted as saying by the Lutheran World Federation publication.

"Is this a post-Sept. 11 reality? I’m not sure. We didn’t seem to have this problem with the last international body I spoke to," he said.

Doer expressed concern that the current visa problem could set a bad precedent for future international events, such as the 2010 Winter Olympic Games which were recently awarded to Vancouver, British Columbia.

"Canada hosts a lot of events. We can’t have international bodies coming to our country and having some of their people left behind without a perceived reason for doing so," said Doer.

LWF General Secretary, Ishmael Noko has written to the Canadian authorities, seeking clarification.

"We would like to find a way to close this matter with the government of Canada. This is a wound that needs to be healed," he said.

The assembly, which brings together LWF’s 136 member churches worldwide, is held every six years.

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