wfn.org | (LWF) Manitoba Premier Determined to Find Reason for

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

LWF Tenth Assembly, Winnipeg, Canada, 21-31 July 2003

PRESS RELEASE NO. 12

Manitoba Premier Determined to Find Reason for Visa Refusals
Gary Doer Promises to Pursue Matter with Canadian Government

WINNIPEG, Canada, 23 July -- The government leader of the Canadian province
hosting the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Tenth Assembly has vowed to get
to the bottom of a controversy surrounding the denial of visas to dozens of
international participants in the event.

"We're going to follow this up with the federal government and the group
here to make sure that whatever went wrong won't go wrong again," said
Manitoba Premier Gary Doer in an interview after bringing greetings to the
LWF meeting this morning.

"This is something we're going to have to manage as a country a lot more
carefully in the future."

As of last night, 51 individuals, including delegates and visitors, had not
received visas from the Canadian government to attend the 10-day LWF Assembly
in Winnipeg, the capital city of the province of Manitoba. Of those people,
27 were from India alone. All affected delegations are from Africa and Asia,
which have some of the poorest nations on earth.

The visa issue has cast a cloud over the LWF conference, which has as its
theme "For the Healing of the World."

Doer said the Manitoba government will seek more facts from federal
immigration officials about why so many LWF participants have so far failed
to receive visas.

"We're not in possession of all the information. We're going back to the
federal government to find out who made the decisions, why they made hem and
what this means for Canada."

Doer said his government tried to intervene on participants' behalf when it
learned about the visa problem. It managed to get some denials reversed but
not all, he said.

Manitoba 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, according to the Premier.

"Is this a post-September 11 reality? I'm not sure. We didn't seem to have
this problem with the last international body I spoke to."

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."

The Assembly last night agreed to hold a public demonstration on Tuesday,
July 29, to protest the Canadian government's failure to approve the
outstanding visas.

The Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is taking place
21-31 July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada, under the theme "For the Healing of the
World." It is being hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
(ELCIC).

There are almost 700 men, women and youth participants in the Tenth Assembly
including 356 delegates from the 133 churches with full membership and three
associate members. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the
LWF, and meets normally every six years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is
governed by its Council that meets annually, and by its Executive Committee.

Further information including photos, video and audio news, is posted on the
Assembly Web site www.lwf-assembly.org 

To order photographs, please contact LWF-Photo@lutheranworld.org 

*	*	*

The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LW now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7 million of the 65.4 million
Lutherans worldwide. 

The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest
such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission
and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.