Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau received a delegation of the Montreal and Toronto Women’s Group of 35 a group dedicated to the aid of Soviet Jewry. Mrs. Elaine Dubow of Montreal, who introduced the delegation to the Prime Minister Friday, asked him what the Canadian government had to say about the violation of the human rights specifically about the human rights of Soviet Jews, following the Helsinki conference.
Trudeau said, “I will wait, for six months and then I shall ask statistical information providing violations of the Third Basket,” a reference to the human rights clause of the Helsinki agreement. He added that at that time, “the Canadian government would be prepared to make representations to the Soviet government on behalf of the Soviet Jews who are denied their basic human rights, one of which is the right to leave their country.”
The women also met with John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister; Liberal MP John Roberts, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Soviet Jewry; and Conservative MP Gordon Fair-weather, all of whom assured the women of their full support for the cause of freedom of Soviet Jews.
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