Court Upholds Expulsion of Rude Envoy

Ottawa Citizen ^ | July 20, 2003 | Janice Tibbetts

[Loyalist]

Giorgio Copello has been fighting his expulsion for five years. He no longer works at Italy's embassy, but still lives in Canada.

The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the expulsion of a former Italian diplomatic who was declared "persona non grata" in Canada for his rude and threatening behaviour.

Giorgio Copello of Ottawa has been fighting his eviction for five years, when the federal government first ordered him to leave for talking about a bomb in his luggage at an airport and haranguing a motel clerk by calling her "a pig, stupid, a slut," and Canada "a pig country."

The appeal court sided with the government, saying that the court does not have the jurisdiction to rule on the "political decision" to expel Mr. Copello.

"Although it may seem unfair that Canada can expel a diplomat from within its borders without ever having to justify its decision in court, this traditional power exists in order to foster friendly diplomatic relations between nations," said the recent decision from a three-judge panel.

"Diplomats are guests in the foreign country in which they live and work. Diplomatic status carries with it certain privileges and immunities, but the purpose ... is not for the benefit of individual diplomats."

In 1998, the federal government gave Mr. Copello a month to leave the country, following an ill-fated vacation to the Yukon that year.

In a complaint to the Italian Embassy, the Stratford Motel in Whitehorse said that Mr. Copello became angry when he was asked to sign a credit card slip.

The letter of complaint said his comments included, but were not limited to: "You are rude, a pig, stupid, a slut, the Yukon is s--tty, you are full of shit, I am a diplomat, I do not pay, your police are asses, they cannot touch me, Canada is a pig country, I am a very important Italian diplomat, you are going to pay."

Mr. Copello told a different version of events, denying the allegations against him.

At the Vancouver airport to catch his return flight, RCMP were called when a security screener said Mr. Copello would not allow him to search a white, plastic bag that set off a metal detector.

"Mr. Copello then began to be aggressive and without any prompting stated that it was not a bomb. ... Mr. Copello continued to be very aggressive and said he would bring a real one the next time," the police report said.

Mr. Copello's expulsion caused a stir in the diplomatic community at the time, because problems with foreign envoys were normally dealt with quietly rather than resorting to expulsion.

However, diplomatic mishaps have since gained increased public attention, particularly after Catherine MacLean, an Ottawa lawyer and mother of two, was killed by a car driven by Russian diplomat Andrei Knyazev as she was walking her dog.

Mr. Knyazev was sent back to Russia and was sentenced to four years in a medium-security work camp.

The Foreign Affairs Department did not return telephone calls to explain what sort of behaviour merits eviction from the country.

The Italian-Canadian community, however, viewed the penalty as unusually harsh since Mr. Copello had not faced criminal charges.

The National Congress of Italian Canadians wrote to then-foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy in 1998, asking him to withdraw the expulsion and give Mr. Copello a fair hearing.

Mr. Copello, a former counsellor for emigration and social affairs, left the embassy about three years ago and is no longer in the diplomatic service, said an embassy spokesman. Mr. Copello was about seven years short of Italy's mandatory retirement age of 67.

But he remains in Canada, according to the court ruling.

Mr. Copello, who represented himself in court, could not be located to comment on whether he will continue his legal fight.

"It should be mentioned that the appellant, who continues to reside in Canada, does not seem to have lost his right to remain in Canada or apply for immigration status," the court ruling said. The decision upholds an early ruling in the Federal Court of Canada.

© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen

[John Beresford Tipton]

Q: What should you do if life puts you surrounded
by pigs and in "a pig country?"

A: Make prosciutto.