Interview with John Bosnitch. Part I — Fredericton’s Black Sheep
What do New Brunswick’s student movement, life as a gaijin in Japan, the Yugoslav wars, and the exfiltration of chess champion Bobby Fischer to Iceland have in common? They all intersect in the singular life of Canadian-Serbian journalist John Bosnitch.
A self-described Serbian and Canadian patriot, Bosnitch comes from an extraordinary lineage. During the Second World War, his father Sava fought the Croatian Ustaše and other Nazi-aligned forces, before narrowly escaping the communist regime of Marshal Josip Broz Tito.
In 1949, he enrolled at McGill University, studying history and political science and sharing a dormitory with future U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński.
Born on February 15—Serbia’s Independence Day—John Bosnitch would later display a similar defiance, taking on what he describes as a corrupt academic establishment in his native New Brunswick during the 1980s.
On the occasion of his recent visit to Quebec City, we look back on four decades of political activism and legal battles. Interview conducted in French and English.
Pierre-Étienne Paradis: Why was your father in danger if he returned to Yugoslavia?
John Bosnitch: “Although they were originally allies, the communists and the royalists entered into a civil war in 1942. My father was the only anti-communist elected to the student parliament at the University of Belgrade. He supported maintaining a constitutional monarchy, like the one that exists in Canada.”
Why did your family end up in Fredericton?
John Bosnitch: “After earning his doctorate in Montreal, my father taught at the University of Saskatchewan. He was then invited to teach in the history and political science department at the University of New Brunswick.”
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was very popular in Quebec. However, few people remember that his wife Mila Pivnički, born in Sarajevo, is a Bosnian Serb. Tell us about the connection between your family and hers.
John Bosnitch: “My father and Mila’s father were best friends at school. However, Mila was not allowed to be baptized in communist Yugoslavia. By tradition, she had to be baptized before marrying Brian. So my father came to Montreal to be her godfather.”
Why do you describe New Brunswick as a “plantation”? Why do you criticize your home province so harshly?
John Bosnitch: “The entire province is controlled by a single family. The Irvings obtained a monopoly from Imperial Oil (Esso), then pushed out all franchisees overnight to put the Irving name on gas stations.
They bought all the newspapers, all the television stations, and all the radio stations in the province, while also being the largest donors to its two main political parties!”
In 1986, the University of New Brunswick administration banned you from campus two weeks before the end of term. Your professors supported you by allowing you to take exams remotely. Why was the rector so afraid of you?
John Bosnitch: “The administration ‘declared war’ on us in 1981. The Board of Governors had to approve the list of recipients for an honorary doctorate. As the engineering student representative, I asked to see the names of the candidates.
One senior member of the Irving clan, who was in the room, would have been in a position to vote for herself and observe the voting process! I demanded that she leave the room. I was then elected president of the student association by a landslide.
But after five years of fighting, the administration had had enough. It was difficult to officially expel a student, so they banned me from setting foot on campus by invoking the archaic English Trespass Act!”
You then began a master’s degree in political science at McGill University. What was your impression of Montreal and Quebec at the time?
John Bosnitch: “I liked eastern Quebec, which was francophone and open-minded. But on the English side, particularly at McGill, I found people to be racist and too conservative. They placed no importance on social issues and were only interested in the financial aspect of their careers.”
In 1987, you witnessed a man being brutally beaten by Montreal police. What exactly happened?
John Bosnitch: “A young anglophone leaving the Thunderdome bar on Stanley Street at four in the morning misunderstood an order to move along given in French. The police beat him with batons, grabbed him by the hair, and smashed his face against the trunk of the car until he lost consciousness.
I tried to convince the victim to press criminal charges, but the police sued him instead to cover themselves.
Facing up to five years in prison for allegedly assaulting police officers, the victim first contacted the well-known lawyer Julius Grey, who refused the case, saying: ‘you cannot afford me.’ So I found Pierre Poupart myself, a ‘red’ lawyer, a socialist who had successfully defended FLQ hijackers upon their return from Cuba.”
Your testimony led to the victim’s acquittal. What happened next?
John Bosnitch: “I testified again in 1989. The victim was awarded $20,000 in damages. To avoid prison, two of the officers involved had to promise never to work again as police officers or security guards and never to possess a firearm.
Despite this agreement, our lawyer received a phone call from the union stating that the police ‘could not guarantee my life for more than 30 days if I did not leave Canada.’”
These threats convinced you to go to Asia, where you had received an invitation, ultimately leading you to Japan. But before discussing that chapter, let’s talk about your current efforts to legalize cannabis in Serbia. This is an issue we know well in Canada. In what capacity are you involved?
John Bosnitch: “I approached members of IRKA (Initiative to Change the Legal Status of Cannabis) myself. I offered them my political, economic, financial, and legal expertise.
It had the effect of a bombshell! Usually, people advocating for cannabis legalization come directly from that environment, not from outside it.
We first emphasized industrial hemp. On television, I rolled and smoked a hemp joint—which has no effect—and people couldn’t tell the difference from marijuana. They knew absolutely nothing about medicinal varieties, CBD, THC. Nothing at all!”
Do you think Serbia is lagging behind in this area?
John Bosnitch: “Yes, Serbia is behind the rest of Europe. Some marijuana was smoked in the 1960s, and the textile properties of cannabis were well known, since Serbia was one of the largest fiber producers in Europe at the beginning of the last century.”
“But it was the Americans who pressured the dictator Josip Broz Tito to ban it. Tito was an agent of the West, positioning himself against the Stalinists.”
Will the recent legalization of recreational cannabis in Germany, based on consumer clubs, have an impact on other European countries?
John Bosnitch: “Of course. Serbia receives around 100,000 German tourists each year. If we cause them problems over the possession of medical cannabis, the German chancellor will call Belgrade and tell us to forget any form of subsidies or economic aid!”
What have you learned from the Canadian experience?
John Bosnitch: “IRKA is already producing extracts and tinctures for medical purposes, but it’s a parallel and illicit system. Our next objective is to legalize medical cannabis, and then recreational cannabis, as was done in Canada.
But what you don’t have in Canada is the ‘cannabis belt’ that stretches from northern Italy to Ukraine, passing through Serbia. We have the ideal temperature and light conditions for growing these varieties!”