FORMED
A Canadian Committee for the International War Crimes Tribunal was launched at a press conference in Toronto March 10. Among the sponsors present were Professor Chandler Davis, Professor Hans Blumenfeld and Carmen Guild of the University of Toronto, the Rev. Gene Young, Dr. Gustavo Tolentino and Ken Warren, executive secretary of the committee.
The committee announced that it will assist the International War Crimes Tribunal in its investigation into the nature of U.S. intervention in Vietnam. The Tribunal headed by Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre and Vladimir Dedijer, is concerned about the crimes committed by the U.S. against peace and humanity as indicated by daily reports in the press. Since the body has no authority to impose punishment, it will function not as a court of law but as a commission of inquiry with the moral weight accruing from the character of its members and the procedures they follow.
The Canadian committee hopes to assist in presenting facts about the Tribunal and its work to the Canadian public and it will raise funds to help in its efforts. Dr. Tolentino has just returned from investigations he made in the Hanoi area as a member of a team of investigators. The committee already has an imposing list of sponsors, among them leading figures at the University of Alberta, the University of Western Ontario (London), Lakehead University (Fort William), antiwar committees in Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal, and Ed Finn, director of publications of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers (Canadian Labour Congress).