United Nations Non - Treaty Standards
Non-treaty standards do not have the legal power of treaties but have the force
of having been negotiated by governments over many years and have been adopted
by political bodies such as the UN General Assembly, usually by consensus. They
are often considered to be as binding on states as treaties.
THE BODY OF PRINCIPLES FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL PERSONS UNDER ANY FORM OF
DETENTION OR IMPRISONMENT
These principles were adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations by
resolution on 9 December 1988 and contain an authoritative set of
internationally recognized standards. The principles are applicable to all
member states on the treatment of detainees and prisoners and include the
requirement of representation provided by the state.
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/43/a43r173.htm
STANDARD MINIMUM RULES FOR THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS 1955 adopted by the First
UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offender and was
approved by the UN Economic and Social Council. In 1971 the UN General Assembly
called upon its member states to implement these rules.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/treatmentprisoners.htm
UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY OF INDIVIDUALS,
GROUPS AND ORGANS OF SOCIETY TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED HUMAN
RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS.
Adopted by the UN General Assembly 9 December 1998 following 13 years of
negotiation amongst member states. The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders
affirms the primary responsibility of states to protect human rights by
protecting human rights defenders.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/A.RES.53.144.En?OpenDocumen\
t
[if the above link is broken, cut & paste into browser]
======================================================================
U.S. Identifies 111,000 Immigrants With Criminal Records
By Julia Preston
The New York Times, November 12, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/13ice.html
Federal authorities have identified more than 111,000 immigrants with criminal
records being held in local jails, during the first year of a program that seeks
to deport immigrants who have committed serious crimes.
Among the immigrants identified through the program, known as Secure
Communities, more than 11,000 had been charged with or convicted of the most
serious crimes, including murder and rape, domestic security officials said
Thursday. About 1,900 of those have been deported.
At a news conference in Washington, John Morton, the top official at Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, called the program “the future of immigration
enforcement,” because, he said, it “focuses our resources on identifying and
removing the most serious criminal offenders first and foremost.”
About 100,000 of the detained immigrants identified through the system had been
convicted of less serious crimes, ranging from burglary to traffic offenses, the
officials said. Of those, more than 14,000 have been deported.
Obama administration officials have worked to distinguish their immigration
enforcement strategy from the Bush administration’s, which centered on
high-profile factory raids and searches in communities for immigration
fugitives.
The Bush operations drew an outcry from immigrant advocates, who said they led
to racial profiling, especially of Latinos, and ensnared many immigrants who
lacked legal status but had not committed crimes.
Obama administration officials said Secure Communities, which was started under
President George W. Bush but rapidly expanded under President Obama, is a
relatively low-cost way for the authorities to concentrate resources on
deporting the most dangerous immigrants.
Immigration lawyers remain skeptical, saying the program lumps together
relatively minor offenses with serious felonies. They said the program
encouraged the local police to arrest anyone they suspect of being an illegal
immigrant.
“All you have to do is get them in jail and their immigration status can be
checked,” said Joan Friedland, immigration policy director at the National
Immigration Law Center, an immigrant advocacy group. Under the program, which
started in October 2008 in Houston, the fingerprints of every person booked into
jail by the local authorities — including legal and illegal immigrants and
United States citizens — are checked against federal immigration databases as
well as criminal databases.
When the check produces a match showing both an immigration record and a
criminal one, ICE agents can place a hold to ensure the immigrant will remain in
custody.
Under an agreement with agencies in the program, ICE agents must take action
within 48 hours to detain or initiate deportation proceedings against the most
serious offenders. Legal immigrants are subject to deportation if they are
convicted of certain crimes, while illegal immigrants can be deported even if
they have committed no crime.
In the first year, 95 cities or counties in 11 states have joined the program.
The police department of Washington, D.C., announced on Thursday that it would
join. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at the news conference
that she hoped the program would expand to the whole country by 2013.
Most immigrants identified in the program remain in this country because the
immigration authorities generally allow criminal prosecutions and sentences to
run their course before they carry out deportations.
The database checks still have flaws, lawyers said. According to ICE figures,
about 5,880 people identified through the program turned out to be United States
citizens.
+++
D.C. to help U.S. identify illegal immigrants in jail
Federal program checks fingerprints of local crime suspects
By N.C. Aizenman
The Washington Post, November 13, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/12/AR2009111209444.\
html?hpid=sec-metro
D.C. police will be the next department to take part in a federal program whose
ultimate aim is to check the immigration status of every person booked into a
local jail, homeland security officials announced Thursday.
The program, known as Secure Communities, matches inmates' fingerprints against
a federal database so that federal authorities can identify and possibly remove
deportable illegal immigrants before they are released from custody.
Similar checks are done at all 1,200 federal and state prisons. But authorities
have lacked the ability to do them across the nation's 3,100 local jails.
The Bush administration launched the program as a pilot project in October 2008,
and it is being expanded under President Obama as part of an effort to focus
enforcement on illegal immigrants who commit crimes, rather than those who
otherwise obey the law.
'We're excited,' said Kevin Palmer, a D.C. police spokesman. 'It's going to
enable our officers to have real-time information about the individuals they
have in custody and to help facilitate the removal of dangerous felons from our
communities.'
Fairfax County is one of 95 jurisdictions that participate in Secure
Communities, which differs from a national program that deputizes local police
to question suspects about their immigration status. Several county police
departments in Northern Virginia and Maryland participate in that program.
Similarly, Montgomery County police provide immigration authorities with the
name of anyone arrested for a violent crime or handgun violation.
The checks conducted through Secure Communities are automatic. Fingerprints of
suspects arrested by local authorities, already run through the FBI's criminal
database, are also matched against an immigration database maintained by the
Department of Homeland Security. The system does not flag illegal immigrants who
have not been fingerprinted.
Homeland Security officials announced Thursday that the program had identified
in its first year more than 111,000 criminal illegal immigrants in local
custody. More than 11,000 were convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape,
and kidnapping. About 1,900 of those immigrants have been removed from the
United States.
Richard Rocha, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the
agency planned to remove the remainder after they have completed their
sentences.
Immigrant advocates have expressed concern that Secure Communities will ensnare
many illegal immigrants who are convicted only of minor crimes or of nothing at
all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-Peruvian foreign minister under arrest in Miami
Agence France Presse, November 12, 2009
Miami (AFP) - Peru's ex-foreign minister August Blacker Miller, on the run since
2005, was arrested in Miami for allegedly breaking immigration laws, a US
official said as Lima announced it will request his extradition to stand trial.
'Blacker-Miller was arrested on Monday... by ICE special agents for being in
violation of US immigration law,' said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement
official who requested anonymity.
He said the Peruvian faces deportation proceedings.
Peru's Interior Minister Octavio Salazar on Wednesday announced the arrest and
said Lima would at once lodge an extradition request with US authorities.
. . .
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20091113-179630.h\
tml
======================================================================
U.S. illegal immigration program costing county
By Joe Nelson
The San Bernardino County Sun (CA), November 7, 2009
http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_13740432
San Bernardino County taxpayers have spent an estimated $54.5 million to jail
illegal immigrants since 2004, and officials have been fighting an uphill battle
to get the federal government to pick up more of that cost.
In all, federal officials have reimbursed the county about $6.7million since
fiscal year 2004 through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.
County officials say the advent of the 287(g) program, which trains county jail
deputies to identify illegal immigrants and hold them for immigration
proceedings, gives local authorities their most precise picture yet of how many
illegal immigrants are being held and how much it costs.
But with the tough economy, there's little hope that local taxpayers will get
off the hook any time soon.
'The Board of Supervisors believes it should be fully reimbursed by the federal
government for the cost of incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants, and the
county works very hard at the federal level to preserve and maximize the SCAAP,'
county spokesman David Wert said.
In April 2008, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution seeking additional
reimbursement from the federal government for the costs of jailing illegal
immigrants.
'San Bernardino County taxpayers shouldn't have to shoulder that burden,'
Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt said at the time. 'It's an insult to our taxpayers to
reimburse us for only (a fraction) of our cost for housing illegal aliens in our
jails.'
The problem in securing additional reimbursement from the federal government,
Wert said, boils down to the usual suspect: money.
The last three presidents have proposed either cutting or eliminating the
reimbursement program as a way to help balance the federal budget.
The program also is under fire in the Senate, where the purse strings are
controlled by members from small states that tend not to have serious
immigration problems.
The Obama administration, in its budget submittal to Congress last year, asked
Congress to eliminate SCAAP, Wert said.
'The county grasps the reality that very little funding is available, and given
the political realities in Washington, the county is, in a sense, lucky the
program exists at all,' Wert said.
Members of the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Rod Hoops have had personal
conversations with the county's congressional delegation in efforts to secure
more federal money.
That's in addition to the county's lobbying efforts, which the county has done
both individually and in conjunction with Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles
counties, Wert said.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to extend the 287(g) program for three
years.
Under the agreement with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, nine San
Bernardino County sheriff's custody specialists screen inmates suspected of
being in the country illegally. If it is determined that certain inmates are
illegal immigrants, detainers are placed on them, and they are turned over to
federal immigration officers once their criminal cases have concluded.
But some critics question whether the program is helping taxpayers or hurting
them.
'It's a burdensome cost to the local government,' said Suzanne Foster, policy
committee chairwoman for the Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern
California. 'ICE does provide initial training, but it does not fund the
screening process, overtime hours, or any part of the housing of inmates. ... It
has been found all over the country to be quite burdensome to the local
governments, costing taxpayers more than is necessary.'
Foster says the program encourages police officers to arrest greater numbers of
illegal immigrants, leading to increased cost to taxpayers.
Indeed, the number of San Bernardino County jail inmates identified as illegal
immigrants has grown nearly five-fold since 2004.
But it's impossible to tell whether more illegal immigrants are being jailed or
simply counted more precisely.
Last year, the inmate screening program was streamlined to enable custody
specialists to screen inmates countywide via closed-circuit television. Since
then, the numbers of inmates who have had detainer holds placed on them has
increased dramatically, sheriff's Lt. Rick Ells said.
'I'm not sure it's cutting down on what we're spending on housing the inmates,
but we're removing criminals from the streets, and that's going to benefit the
county,' he said.
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@...http://www.cis.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Daniel Brodsky
To: luo-members
Subject: [LawUnion] AIDWYC throws support to Ontario legal aid boycott
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:44:46 -0500
AIDWYC throws support to Ontario legal aid boycott
Toronto, Canada – November 10, 2009 – The Association in Defence of the Wrongly
Convicted (AIDWYC) today announced its support of the legal aid boycott
currently under way by criminal defence lawyers in Ontario. Since June 2009 a
large number of criminal lawyers in Ontario have stopped accepting legal aid
certificates for cases involving "guns and gangs" as well as homicide. The
purpose of the action is to highlight the large difference between the
government's funding of the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases and
its funding of the defence.
"One of AIDWYC's principal objectives is the elimination of conditions that can
lead to miscarriages of justice,” said Ralph Steinberg, AIDWYC Board
Co-President. “AIDWYC supports this boycott because it sees the serious and
chronic underfunding of the defence of criminal cases as a contributing factor
in wrongful convictions. The imbalance in resources between the prosecution and
defence in criminal cases continues to raise the spectre of further mistakes
being made in the criminal justice system, and to deny access to justice for
those without resources."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dbrodsky@...
To: "Law Union of Ontario"<luo-members>
Subject: [LawUnion] Boycott
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:52:25 +0000
The work we do at AIDWYC is unpaid so we will not be getting more money even if
the boycott succeeds.
Underfunded defenders and the resource disparity between the prosecution and the
defence are some of the root causes of wrongful convictions.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
AIDWYC is a non-profit legal organization advocating for wrongly convicted
Canadians. Its clients are mostly poor and forgotten, and have exhausted all of
their legal avenues for relief. In addition to championing the cause of
factually innocent persons who have been wrongly convicted, the organization
also works tirelessly to prevent wrongful convictions through legal education
and reform
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Layoffs coming to Ontario's legal aid program
Tracey Tyler
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
Published On Thu Nov 5 2009
Ontario's legal aid program, already hit by a lawyers' boycott, plans to lay off
staff to eliminate a $56 million deficit.
The move follows an announcement earlier this week that British Columbia's legal
aid system will lay off 54 employees, shut down its toll-free advice line and
close five offices next year.
In an internal email today, Legal Aid Ontario president Bob Ward said financial
pressures are forcing the agency to make "difficult but necessary" decisions
about the size of its staff.
"Involuntary layoffs will occur," he said.
The move might seem perplexing, given the Ontario government's recent promise to
pump an additional $150 million into the legal aid program over the next five
years. But in the memo, Ward said that extra money must be spent on defending
clients and not applied to the program's "funding shortfall."
About $40 million of the deficit is attributed to a drop in revenues from the
Law Foundation of Ontario, which helps fund legal aid services with interest
payments from lawyers' trust accounts.
"The program doesn't have adequate stable funding. Because it depends on law
foundation money it's at the mercy of market forces," said Frank Addario,
president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.
It's the opposite of how one would expect a social program to work. You'd think
it would have the capacity to do its best work in tough times," he said.
B.C. Attorney General Mike De Jong also blamed low interest rates for a drop in
legal aid revenue in that province. B.C.'s legal aid budget is about $74
million, while Ontario spends about $300 million a year on its program.
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/721857--layoffs-coming-to-ontario-s-
legal-aid-program
======================================================================
Khadr to face U.S. military commission
Decision 'devastating and shocking,' lawyer says
Last Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009 | 9:51 PM ET
CBC News
In this courtroom sketch from June, Omar Khadr sits with his defence team during
a hearing at the U.S. war crimes commission at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. (Janet
Hamlin/Reuters)A U.S. military commission will resume hearing the case against
Omar Khadr, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday, the same day the
Supreme Court of Canada heard a federal government appeal in his case.
It is unclear when or where the 23-year-old inmate will face charges, but he is
one of 10 high-profile detainees who the U.S. confirmed on Friday will face
justice.
Five of those inmates, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will be put on trial in a federal civilian court in
New York City.
Five others, including Khadr, will be tried in military commissions on a variety
of terrorism charges.
Earlier, there were reports that Khadr would be transferred out of Guantanamo
Bay to face justice in the United States. But the U.S. Justice Department
confirmed to CBC News that no decision has been made as to where the commission
will take place.
Khadr's civilian lawyer, Barry Coburn, said the U.S. government's decision to
proceed with Khadr's case in a military commission was "devastating and
shocking" and that he had expected more from the Obama administration.
"We thought that the incoming Obama administration signalled a new day with
respect to these cases, a new respect for civil liberties, an abhorrence of
torture, a respect for the time-honoured legal procedures and protections that
are mandated by the constitution and enforced by the federal courts," he said.
News of Khadr's hearing came on the same day that the Canadian government
pleaded its appeal in the Supreme Court on Khadr's latest case.
Ottawa asked the top court to overturn a Federal Appeal Court decision to uphold
a lower-court ruling that required Ottawa to try to repatriate Khadr, the only
Western citizen still being held at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
On Friday, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre told reporters that "any decision to
ask for Mr. Khadr’s return to Canada is a decision for the democratically
elected government of Canada and not for the courts.”
Asked whether that meant the government would ignore the Supreme Court's
decision if it rules against it, Poilievre repeated that Khadr's fate should be
decided by an elected government and not the courts.
As for the U.S. decision to try Khadr in a military commission, Poilievre said
that “we believe the U.S legal process announced today should run its course.”
Toronto-born Khadr was captured by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002, when he
was 15, and has been held at Guantanamo for seven years. The U.S. accuses him of
throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer, a medic with the U.S.
army, but leaked documents have called into question the Pentagon's murder case
against Khadr.
Rights breached, court rules
In a 2-1 judgment in August, the Federal Appeal Court agreed with a Federal
Court judge's ruling that Khadr's rights under Section 7 of the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms — the rights to life, liberty and security of person — had
been breached when Canadian officials interviewed him at the prison in
Guantanamo in 2003 and shared the resulting information with U.S. authorities.
In early September, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the federal government's
appeal.
Ottawa's position is that Khadr should remain in U.S. custody so the U.S. can
try him, and that the court order to attempt to bring him home is meddling in
foreign policy.
"In my respectful submission, we're in the realm of diplomacy here," government
lawyer Robert Frater told the Supreme Court.
He denied the allegation that the government had ignored calls to bring Khadr
back to Canada: "Mr. Khadr's voice has been heard repeatedly."
But Nathan Whitling, counsel for Khadr, argued Friday that returning his client
to Canada would help "lessen the harm" he has suffered.
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said while there's no doubt Khadr had "suffered
greatly," she wondered how repatriating him would fix what's now in the past.
Whitling said Khadr's predicament amounted to "a unique case."
Khadr has been stuck in legal limbo since the swearing in of U.S. President
Barack Obama, who vowed to close Guantanamo and repatriate all but its most
serious prisoners.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was asked during a news conference whether a
Supreme Court of Canada directive to the Canadian government to request Khadr's
transfer back to Canada would trump the military commission process.
"We'll look at that matter," Holder said. "At this point, it's one of the cases
designated for commission proceeding.
"We will, as that case proceeds, see how it should be ultimately treated."
With file from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/13/omar-khadr-supreme-court-hearing.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. military to decide detainees' fate
But alleged mastermind of 9/11 attacks will get benefit of civilian court
Mitch Potter
In Washington
Michelle Shephard
In Ottawa
Published On Sat Nov 14 2009
People line up outside the Supreme Court in Ottawa on Nov. 13, 2009 prior to an
appeal by the federal government regarding Omar Khadr's repatriation.
FRED CHARTRAND/THE CANADIAN PRESS
A U.S. military jury will decide the fate of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr
unless Canada's Supreme Court forces Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene
on behalf of the Toronto-born captive.
After seven years of legal uncertainty in the Khadr case, the saga entered a
decisive stage yesterday in a dramatic series of developments on both sides of
the border.
In Ottawa, nine high court justices heard arguments and now will weigh whether
Ottawa must advocate for Khadr's repatriation.
But the question for Canadian jurists was overshadowed by events in Washington,
where U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder mapped out the countdown to Guantanamo
Bay's closure in a blockbuster announcement on the prosecutorial fate of its
best-known detainees, Khadr included.
Five prime suspects of the 9/11 attacks – including self-proclaimed mastermind
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – will be sent for civilian trials in New York City,
scene of the deadliest of the 2001 crimes. Holder expressed confidence the
trials will be both fair and open. And he expressed confidence that the suspects
will face the "ultimate punishment" of death, based on his review of evidence
not yet made public.
Five other high-profile detainees – including Khadr – will go before U.S.
military tribunals at a time and place still to be determined, Holder said.
Holder's announcement triggered an instant uproar across America's bitterly
divided political spectrum, from worries a Manhattan show trial might become a
magnet for more attacks, to questions over the prospects of locating an
impartial jury so near to Ground Zero.
Other critics condemned Washington's decision to keep military tribunals as part
of the Obama administration's prosecutorial toolbox.
Towering over all was the question of whether the civilian courts will weigh
evidence derived by torture, including the 183 episodes of waterboarding
Mohammed was subjected to by U.S. interrogators.
Even as Canada's Supreme Court weighs the question of Khadr, it remained unclear
whether U.S. authorities would recognize any request to repatriate the detainee
to Canada.
Holder evaded the question yesterday, saying: "We'll look into the Khadr matter
... and we will, as that case proceeds, see how it should be ultimately
treated."
A senior U.S. defence department official told the Star the military trial
against Khadr is "a ways off" but declined to comment on the process that led to
the decision, or whether the Canadian detainee's age and nationality were
factors.
"There is a way to go in this case and I'm sure – and this is really up to the
prosecutors – they will be considering all of their options with regard to how
to handle the (Khadr) case," the official said.
The milestone decision in Washington, which marks a crucial step in winding down
the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, effectively divided high profile
detainees into two groups – one set to face civilian courts for alleged roles in
killing civilians on American soil, another to face military justice on charges
of attacks on military targets overseas.
Civil rights groups Friday celebrated the transfer of the 9/11 cases to the
federal courts while denouncing the continued use of military commissions.
"The only conceivable basis for prosecuting cases in the discredited military
commission system is that the administration lacks the confidence that it can
obtain a conviction in the legitimate courts," said Ben Wizner, of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Changes have been made to the military law that was first established for
Guantanamo detainees under the Bush administration, but critics say the process
still lacks basic legal safeguards.
"Despite cosmetic improvements, the military commissions still permit the use of
evidence obtained unconstitutionally and still permit the government to conceal
details of its mistreatment of prisoners from the public," Wizner said.
But conservative critics and some relatives of 9/11 victims railed from the
other side. Debra Burlingame, whose brother piloted the plane hijacked and flown
into the Pentagon, said in a statement that a civilian trial "will be a
travesty."
"In open court, it will be Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who will hold forth," she
said, "mocking his victims, exulting in the suffering of their families,
ridiculing the judge, his lawyers and the American justice system, and worst of
all, rallying his jihad brothers to kill more Americans."
Khadr's American lawyer Barry Coburn, who was among the more than 200 spectators
who watched the Ottawa hearing Friday, said he found the U.S. Department of
Justice's decision to prosecute Khadr before a military commission "devastating
and shocking."
"We are deeply disappointed," said Coburn. "We thought that the incoming Obama
administration signalled a new day with respect to these cases – a new respect
for civil liberties, an abhorrence of torture, a respect for the time-honoured
legal procedures and protections that are mandated by the Constitution and
enforced by the federal courts."
In Ottawa, government lawyers argued Friday that Canada has done enough to
protect Khadr's rights and the courts should not meddle in issues of foreign
affairs.
Khadr's repatriation is a political choice, not a legal obligation, counsel
Robert Frater told the hearing. Canada's position, reiterated Friday by MP
Pierre Poilievre, parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister, has been that
the government will not intervene in the U.S. legal process.
"We believe the U.S. military process announced today should run its course, "
Poilievre said.
"Any decision to ask for Mr. Khadr's return to Canada is a decision for the
democratically elected government of Canada and not for the courts."
New Democrat MP and justice critic Joe Comartin said Poilievre's comments come
"very close to contempt of the Supreme Court of Canada and our Constitution."
"They clearly reflect this government's attitude towards the court. It also
shows their ignorance of the role that an independent judiciary plays in
Canada."
The Federal Courts ruled Khadr's rights as a Canadian citizen had been breached
at Guantanamo and the only way to rectify that violation was to now ask for his
return.
Khadr's Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, told reporters outside court that he
believed the U.S. administration has concerns about Khadr's age and would
welcome a chance to return him to Canada.
"It is very clear that information we've received south of the border and
elsewhere, that the Americans would like to send Omar Khadr home and all it
would take is a simple call from the Prime Minister," Edney said Friday.
Khadr, now 23, was 15 when he was shot and captured in Afghanistan following a
July 2002 firefight. The Pentagon charged him with five war crimes, including
murder in the death of U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer.
Khadr is the youngest of the remaining 215 detainees at Guantanamo and the only
Westerner. His trial will mark the first time in modern-day history that a child
soldier has been prosecuted for war crimes.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/725782--u-s-military-to-decide-detaine\
es-fate
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Walkom: Omar Khadr heading for a kangaroo court»
By Thomas Walkom
National Affairs Columnist
Published On Sat Nov 14 2009
Let me get this straight. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind
of the 9/11 terror attacks, gets a fair trial with all the constitutional
trimmings. But Omar Khadr, the Canadian child-soldier accused of killing an
American sergeant during battle, will still be tried before a kangaroo court.
Incidentally, the kangaroo court label isn't mine. That's how U.S. military
lawyers describe the commission that is supposed to try the 23-year-old Toronto
man.
As Lt.-Col. Darrel Vandeveld, a former military commission prosecutor, wrote
last month in a letter to the Washington Post, these bodies were designed "to
secure convictions where prisoner mistreatment ... would otherwise preclude
them."
True, President Barack Obama has eliminated some of their worst elements. Under
amendments passed into law last month, the military commission that tries Khadr
will no longer be able to use information gained under torture. So that's
something.
But as the American Civil Liberties Union has pointed out, the law still permits
evidence obtained through both hearsay and coercion, as long as this coercion
does not involve "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." Neither hearsay nor
coercion will be permissible in the civilian trial of alleged mass murderer
Mohammed. Neither is permissible in a military court martial. But both may be
allowed in the trial of Khadr, who at the age of 15 was sent off by his father
to aid pro-Taliban forces resisting the American-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Why the difference? U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder insists he merely wants to
differentiate between those accused of attacking civilians and those charged
with crimes against the military.
He says that's why Mohammed, accused of bringing down the twin towers, will be
tried by a civilian court in Manhattan. And he says that's why Khadr and four
others charged with attacking U.S. soldiers will be tried by military
commissions.
This is the excuse. The real reason, I suspect, is that Washington knows that
9/11 ringleaders like Mohammed will be happy to publicly acknowledge their
crimes, thus making their convictions a near certainty.
But Khadr is not angling for martyrdom. And in a real court of law, the case
against him would almost certainly fail.
First there is his age. Fifteen at the time of his capture, he would be
considered a child soldier under United Nations conventions (military
commissions are specifically entitled to disregard this).
Second, as my colleague Michelle Shephard writes in her book, Guantanamo's
Child, Khadr – seriously wounded in the Afghan firefight – was in such bad shape
during questioning that even his U.S. interrogator feared he might die.
In civilian court, statements obtained under such circumstances would be
dismissed as coerced.
Lurking behind all of this is the Canadian government's obdurate refusal, in
Parliament and the courts, to request his repatriation.
It's not clear that the U.S. would agree to such a request if one were made.
Holder was deliberately opaque when asked yesterday, saying only "we will, as
that case proceeds, see how it should be ultimately treated."
What we do know, however, is that after seven years in custody in Afghanistan
and Guantanamo Bay, this particular Canadian citizen is heading for a low-level
show trial.
Shame on Obama for keeping the military commission farce alive. Shame on Canada
for failing to object.
Thomas Walkom's column appears Wednesday and Saturday.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/725779--walkom-omar-khadr-heading-for-\
a-kangaroo-court
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Detainees to face civilian trial
Alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks among five slated to face
justice in New York City
Associated Press
Published On Sat Nov 14 2009
Photos (1)
Clockwise from top left: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi
Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Omar Khadr
AP FILE PHOTOS; SUPPLIED PICTURE (Khadr)
MILITARY JUSTICE
The five headed for military commissions in the U.S. are:
Omar Khadr, born in Toronto. He was 15 when captured after allegedly killing a
U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Mohammed al-Darbi, allegedly plotted to blow up a ship off Yemen.
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, allegedly worked as a bodyguard for Osama bin
Laden.
Noor Uthman Muhammed, allegedly an Al Qaeda member who became a weapons
instructor.
Mohammed Kamin, accused of placing missiles near U.S.-occupied areas in
Afghanistan. He allegedly trained as an Al Qaeda operative.
WASHINGTON–The five Guantanamo Bay detainees heading to civilian court in New
York to face charges they orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are:
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who admitted to interrogators that he was the mastermind
of the attacks. He allegedly proposed the concept to Osama bin Laden as early as
1996, obtained funding for the attacks from bin Laden, oversaw the operation and
trained the hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Waleed bin Attash, a Yemeni better known as Khallad, allegedly ran an Al Qaeda
training camp in Afghanistan, where two of the 19 hijackers were trained. Bin
Attash is believed to have been bin Laden's bodyguard. Authorities say he was
prevented from being a hijacker following his detention in Yemen in early 2001.
Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni, allegedly helped find flight schools for the
hijackers, helped them enter the U.S. and assisted with financing the operation.
He allegedly was selected to be a hijacker but was unable to get a U.S. visa. He
also is believed to be a lead operative for a foiled plot to crash aircraft into
London's Heathrow Airport.
Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, also known as Ammar Al-Baluchi, allegedly helped nine of
the hijackers travel to the United States and sent them $120,000 for expenses
and flight training. He is believed to have served as a key lieutenant to Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed in Pakistan.
Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi, allegedly helped the hijackers with money,
clothing, traveller's cheques and credit cards.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/725777--detainees-to-face-civilian-tri\
al
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GTA Topic: Crime Three charged in slaying of Don Jail inmate
Entertainer struggled with mental health issues, mother says
John Rieti
Staff Reporter
Published On Tue Nov 10 2009
Photos (1)
Jeff Munro, 32, was kicked and punched to death in his cell.
SUPPLIED PICTURE
Toronto police have charged three men with first-degree murder in the killing of
a Don Jail inmate.
Jeffrey Munro, 32, of Toronto was confined and beaten to death in his cell
around 8 p.m. Saturday, police said.
"What has happened here should never have happened," said Munro's mother,
Christine, from her home in Paris, Ont.
She said her son moved to Toronto to pursue a career in dancing. He worked as an
entertainer on several cruise ships in the Caribbean, she said, but he also
struggled with drug use and mental health issues and bounced around downtown
homeless shelters.
Munro had been arrested before, but had always been sent to the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health on Queen St. W. to serve his sentences. The centre,
Christine Munro said, always called when her son had gotten in trouble.
She didn't hear anything about her son's latest arrest, or that he'd been sent
to the Don Jail, she said.
"The police know Jeff," Munro said. "There's supposed to be a profile that says
he's mentally ill and that he should be taken to the centre."
Homicide Det. Sgt. Wayne Banks said police believe Munro's slaying followed an
altercation. Three inmates accused Munro of theft, then allegedly retaliated by
kicking and punching him to death, he said.
Jail staff rushed to the cell area after hearing a commotion to find Munro
unconscious, with obvious signs of trauma to his face.
For privacy reasons, the cell area isn't monitored by surveillance cameras,
Banks said. The doors on the cell "range" were open at the time, allowing the
assailants to corner Munro, he said.
Police would not say why Munro was in jail. Court records show Munro had
previously been convicted of failure to comply.
He had no future court dates booked, the records show.
Police said the charges Munro faced had nothing to do with the altercation that
took his life.
The Don Jail is designated as a short-term prison and holds inmates who are
awaiting trial or sentencing.
"I just want some answers, somebody has to be accountable," Munro's mother said.
Charged are Troy Victor Campbell, 24, Osman Sarikay, 22, and Kevin Andre Veiro,
21, all of Toronto. They are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning.
With files from Jesse McLean
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/723505--three-charged-in-slaying-o\
f-don-jail-inmate
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada
Squabble over bag of potato chips led to inmate's death, Toronto court told
November 11, 2009 4:52 p.m.
TORONTO - There are reports that a fatal beating at Toronto's Don Jail this past
weekend may have been touched off by a squabble over a bag of allegedly stolen
potato chips.
Police made the allegation Tuesday during a court appearance of three suspects
charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jeff Munro, 32.
The attack occurred in an area of the jail where there are no surveillance
cameras.
The Don Jail holds short-term prisoners who are generally either awaiting trial
or sentencing.
But lawyer Barry Swadron says the decision to put Munro - who struggled with
mental illness and drug addiction - into that jail was "outrageous."
Munro was put on probation early this month after spitting at a police officer
and knocking her hat off, but ended up in the Don Jail after allegedly violating
the terms of his probation order.
The men charged in the attack are Troy Victor Campbell, 24, Osman Sarikay, 22,
and Kevin Andre Veiro, 21.
http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/canada/article/366385--squabble-over-bag-of-pota\
to-chips-led-to-inmate-s-death-toronto-court-told
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Correctional Service of Canada
Media Room News
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/media/rgnlrls/ont/index-eng.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DFAIT SOS Mail:
Legal Letters to AICAP to be posted next week.
======================================================================
[legal mail] att serge boudreau, consulars, doj, parl, et al
to: [estate of] a.i.c.a.p.
dated: october 28, 2009
dear sir/madam
i am incarcerated in taft, california. i noticed an article on the
bulletin board, in regards to treaty transfer violations by the
canadian [u.s.] government. could you please forward me any
information that would help me to speed up my treaty transfer process.
i was approved by the united states [!?] government on jan 22, 2009,
and i made my application with the canadian government back in
feb 11, 2008.
sincerely,
manohar (tony) kondolay
33853-086
po box 7001
taft, california 93268
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[legal mail] att: consulars, et al
to whom it may concern
received: november 6, 2009
re: case #08-1-02040-6
my name is christopher miskelly #333283 and i am currently serving
101 months in monroe prison. i am an irish citizen and would like
to be transferred back to ireland to do my time. i got your
information from my law library here and was told i could receive
help from your organization with the transfer process.
i am not quite sure how long this process takes but i would like
to start it please.
thank you for your help.
c. miskelly
christopher miskelly #333283
mcc b401
wsru
po box 777
monroe, wa 98272
usa
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 Nov 2009
National Post
Canwest News Service
CANADIAN GETS 2 YEARS IN PLANE-THEFT CASE
St. Louis, Mo.
A Canadian man who stole a plane from his flying school in Thunder Bay, Ont., in
April and flew it across three U.S. states has been sentenced in Missouri to 24
months in a federal prison. Adam Dylan Leon, pictured, a Turkish-Canadian
citizen, stole a Cessna 172 training aircraft, took off without permission and
failed to make any radio contact with authorities in the United States. A U.S.
Customs and Border Protection plane and two Wisconsin Air National Guard F-16
jet fighters chased Leon after he crossed the U.S. border. He landed near
Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Mo., and was apprehended. Leon, 31, pleaded guilty to
charges of interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft, importation of a
stolen aircraft and illegal entry into the United States.
Printed and distributed by NewpaperDirect | www.newspaperdirect.com, US/Can:
1.877.980.4040, Intern: 800.6364.6364 | Copyright and protected by applicable
law.
http://digital.leaderpost.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lax laws allow US companies to be used for crimes
Source: The Associated Press
Posted: 11/05/09 3:14PM
Filed Under: Main
Lax state laws allow arms traffickers, drug kingpins and money launderers to use
U.S. companies to hide their illicit activities from investigators, government
officials said Thursday.
An example is the case of Viktor Bout, a Russian businessman accused of
supplying dictators and warlords with weapons used in civil wars in South
America, the Middle East and Africa.
Bout used a network of shell companies around the world, including a dozen U.S.
corporations, to carry out his activities, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said during
a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.
One Delaware-based holding company linked to Bout was used in the late 1990s to
sell cargo planes to the militant Taliban government then in control of
Afghanistan.
"Our 50 states are forming nearly 2 million companies each year and, in
virtually all cases, doing so without obtaining the names of the people who will
control or benefit from those companies," Levin said.
Officials from the Treasury and Justice departments agreed the problem is
serious and growing. They stopped short, however, of endorsing Levin's bill to
require states to collect and log into databases the names and addresses of the
actual owners of corporations.
The information on so-called "beneficial owners" would be made available as
needed to financial crimes investigators.
David Cohen, assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing, said the
ability of criminal enterprises to form corporations while hiding their true
identity is a "serious vulnerability."
But he warned that the bill's definition of beneficial owners is too broad and
makes compliance uncertain, time consuming, and expensive.
Jennifer Shasky, senior counsel to the deputy attorney general, said the Levin
bill authorizes states to use homeland security grant money to implement the
bill's requirements. But she said another funding source should be found because
that money is needed to pay for responding to emergency situations.
Several senators said they also were concerned about imposing costly new
requirements on states unable to pay for them and adding a new layer of
bureaucracy on small businesses already struggling in a bleak economy.
Bout was arrested in March 2008 in Thailand as part of a sting operation in
which U.S. agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, which the U.S. classifies as a terrorist organization.
The U.S. is seeking Bout's extradition on charges he conspired to sell millions
of dollars worth of weapons to FARC. He was indicted on four terrorism-related
charges in New York and could face up to life in jail.
http://money.aol.ca/article/lax-laws-allow-us-companies-to-be-used-for-crimes/73\
3463/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Polanski tries for bail a 3rd time
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 5:27 PM ET
CBC News
Roman Polanski is shown Dec. 17, 1977, just before he fled the U.S. on the eve
of sentencing for unlawful sexual intercourse. (Nick Ut/Associated
Press)Polish-American director Roman Polanski has made a third appeal for bail
in Switzerland a Swiss court confirmed Tuesday.
But government officials rejected an offer of a higher bail as a surety to
guarantee Polanski will not flee justice.
His lawyer had offered what he described as a "very, very significant" amount of
cash, but officials said he remains a flight risk.
The director of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown is in jail in Switzerland awaiting
extradition to the U.S. on a 30-year-old conviction for having sex with a
13-year-old girl.
Meanwhile, a California Appeal Court has agreed to hear arguments from
Polanski's lawyers over whether a lower court should hear a plea to dismiss the
charges, whether the director is present or not.
In July, before he was arrested in Switzerland, Polanski appealed a decision by
a Superior Court judge not to dismiss the criminal case against him because he
didn't appear in court.
His lawyers will now be allowed to present oral arguments on Dec. 10 that a
lower court should again look at the case.
They plan to argue there was misconduct by the judge in the original case.
Prosecutors are expected to counter that no arguments for the case to be
dismissed can be presented as long as Polanski refuses to appear in a U.S.
court.
Successful extradition of Polanski to the U.S. could also change the course of
the case before Dec. 10.
Los Angeles authorities have considered the Oscar-winning director a fugitive
since he fled the U.S. in February 1978, just before he was to be sentenced for
a conviction of unlawful sexual intercourse.
Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, who got a civil settlement from the
director, has asked for dismissal of the charges against Polanski, saying the
re-emergence of the case is causing her stress and health problems.
With files from The Associated Press
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/11/03/roman-polanski.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 6, 2009
Entertainment Daily Dish
Cali court sets date for Polanski case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Updated: 3rd November 2009, 4:43am
LOS ANGELES -- A California appeals court is stepping into the Roman Polanski
case.
The California Second District Court of Appeal yesterday set oral arguments in
the case for Dec. 10.
Polanski's attorneys asked the court to order a Los Angeles Superior Court judge
to decide a motion to dismiss the case against the Chinatown director,
regardless of whether he is present in a Los Angeles courtroom.
The judge refused to rule on the dismissal motion earlier this year. The appeal
was filed before Polanski's arrest in September.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/entertainment/dailydish/2009/11/03/11614571-sun.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Just So Everyone Is Clear On Who The Ontario Govt. Thinks Is More Important
« on: October 30, 2009, 09:02:50
»http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/10/30/11575836-sun.html
Cons to get shots, but not guards
Decision to snub staff 'ridiculous'
By SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 30th October 2009, 4:55am
Inmates at Ontario jails and correctional centres will be vaccinated for the
swine flu Monday, while the guards protecting them have been told their clinics
have been cancelled, the Sun has learned.
"This puts us at risk," says Matthew Duffy, an officer at the Toronto West
Detention Centre who's a shop steward for OPSEU Local 517 and a "wellness"
representative.
"They've told us they are holding a clinic for the inmates Monday, Nov. 1, but
not one for us? It's ridiculous," he said yesterday.
The decision to take care of the health concerns of the inmates and not the
officers is "insulting," Duffy said.
'POOR TURNOUT'
To suggest the clinics were cancelled because "there was poor turnout" in other
years is ludicrous, he said.
"I mean this year there's a pandemic, isn't there?" Duffy said. "It's a little
different."
And to add insult to injury, he said, the guards will be part of the security
for the clinic.
"They want us to help put the clinic on and we're not getting the vaccine?" said
Duffy, a 23-year veteran. "We have pregnant women on the job. It's not right."
The correctional services ministry couldn't be reached for comment last night.
MEMO
A memo sent to staff said the decision to not give flu shots to staff was based
on poor turnout in other years.
"While inmates will be vaccinated at all institutions, the decision was made to
not hold staff vaccination clinics at institutions this year due to the small
uptake by staff in previous years," says the memorandum from Loretta Eley, of
the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
Also, a memo from Nancy Ogden, a nurse adviser in the ministry states: "Over the
last three years of collecting data on our flu clinics, it was identified that
in the majority of facilities that conducted flu clinics the employee turnout
was poor and some cited this as 'disappointing,' not cost effective, etc."
Of course it escapes the 9 to 5er's who run Corrections, and are so far removed
from what working on a jail floor actually consists of, that at any one time
only about 20% [or less] of your Correctional Officers are actually on duty. So
if you schedule a clinic for a day, and then between those that decide not to
get a shot and those that never get a chance to leave their post to get a shot,
say less than half of those workers might actually get vaccinated.
Great way to justify stating very few show up...............I guess they got
tired of trying to bash us with the Auditor's report about our 32 sick day
average, oops, no wait, I forgot, the contracts been signed, now the average is
magically 12 days. Logged IF YOU REALLY ENJOY THIS SITE AND WISH TO
CONTINUE,THEN PLEASE WIGGLE UP TO THE BAR AND BUY A SUBSCRIPTION OR SOME SWAG
FROM THE MILNET.CA STORE OR IF YOU WISH TO ADVERTISE PLEASE SEND MIKE SOME
DETAILS.
"There are lots of things you can't beat in life," .
"You can't beat child pornography, you can't beat crime. But do you stop? Do you
give up? Absolutely not."
Mishelle Brown
http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php?topic=90136.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PRISON SMOKING: Inmates at Joyceville Penitentiary continue their work stoppage
-- as they fight for the right to smoke outdoors.
October 30, 2009
SINCE EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING, ALL INMATES AT JOYCEVILLE INSTITUTION HAVE
REFUSED TO GO TO WORK OR ATTEND THEIR PROGRAMS.
THE MOVE FOLLOWS THE RULING OF A QUEBEC JUDGE THAT SAYS THE LAW BANNING TOBACCO
AT FEDERAL PRISONS IS "UNREASONABLE."
HOLLY KNOWLES
"INMATES ARE ESSENTIALLY SENDING A MESSAGE TO THE INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT THAT
THEY WOULD LIKE TO BEGIN PURCHASING TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND BEGIN SMOKING OUT
DOORS."
BUT THAT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN ANY TIME SOON.
THE RENEWED SMOKING DEBATE WAS SPARKED LAST WEEK WHEN A GROUP OF QUEBEC INMATES
LAUNCHED AN APPEAL.
A FEDERAL COURT JUDGE AGREED TO LIFT THE NO-SMOKING BAN.
BUT THE RULING DOESN'T COME INTO EFFECT FOR 90 DAYS.
AND DURING THAT TIME, CORRECTIONS CANADA IS EXPECTED TO APPEAL THE JUDGE'S
DECISION.
AND IT WILL DO SO WITH THE BLESSING OF THE GUARDS UNION WHICH SEES IT AS A
HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUE.
STEWART
"THE BAN ON TOBACCO MEANS THERE IS VERY LITTLE GETTING IN NOW.
OBVIOUSLY BY SMUGGLING...ILLEGAL CONTRABAND.
AND THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE INSTITUTIONS ACROSS CANADA IS MUCH CLEANER.
THE AIR IS AS CLEAN AS IT EVER HAS BEEN IN FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS."
AND THAT CLEAN AIR MAKES IT MUCH EASIER TO FIND INMATES WHO ARE BREAKING THE LAW
BY SMOKING.
IN 2006, THE GOVERNMENT FORCED INMATES AND STAFF TO BUTT OUT WHILE INSIDE PRISON
BUILDINGS.
AT THAT TIME, IT WASN'T ILLEGAL TO POSSESS TOBACCO OR SMOKE OUTDOORS.
STEWART
"NO ONE RESPECTED THAT INDOOR SMOKING BAN AND THE AIR WAS JUST AS BLUE AS IT WAS
BEFORE 2006."
SO IN MAY OF LAST YEAR, OTTAWA EXTENDED THE BAN TO INCLUDE PIRSON GROUNDS --
INSIDE AND OUT.
SINCE THEN, THE PRICE OF CONTRABAND CIGARETTES HAS JUMPED DRAMATICALLY.
A PACK NOW SELLS FOR AS MUCH AS 5 HUNDRED DOLLARS AMONG THE INMATE POPULATION.
THE GUARDS UNION SAYS THERE HAVE BEEN NO DOCUMENTED INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE AS A
RESULT OF THE TOTAL BAN.
BUT MANY WONDER IF INMATES AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS WILL FOLLOW THEIR COUNTERPARTS
AT JOYCEVILLE AND JOIN THE PROTEST.
HOLLY
"THE CORRECTIONAL SERVICE OF CANADA IS PREPARING FOR THAT POSSIBILITY.
HOWEVER, CURRENTLY IT'S JUST JOYCEVILLE INSTITUTION THAT IS INVOLVED IN A WORK
REFUSAL."
CURRENTLY CORRECTIONS CANADA IS WORKING WITH AN INMATE COMMITTEE AT JOYCEVILLE
TO TRY AND GET PRISONERS BACK TO WORK.
THEY SAY THE PROTEST HAS BEEN PEACEFUL AND THE INSTITUTION IS OPERATING UNDER A
"NORMAL ROUTINE"
STU HAY CKWS NEWSWATCH KINGSTON.
INMATES AT JOYCEVILLE PENITENTIARY CONTINUE THEIR WORK STOPPAGE -- AS THEY FIGHT
FOR THE RIGHT TO SMOKE OUTDOORS.
CORRECTIONS CANADA SAYS IT'S BEEN A PEACEFUL PROTEST SO FAR, BUT THEY WORRY
INMATES FROM OTHER PRISONS MAY SOON JOIN THE FIGHT.
THE INMATE PROTEST WAS SPARKED AFTER INMATES IN QUEBEC CHALLENGED THE SMOKING
BAN IN COURT.
THE DETAILS FROM NEWSWATCH'S STU HAY.
http://www.ckwstv.com/index.cfm?page=news&id=1385
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alberta girl who murdered parents, brother given outside freedoms
By The Canadian Press
Tue. Nov 3 - 6:48 AM
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — A southern Alberta teen convicted of fatally stabbing her
parents and younger brother will eventually be given more freedom to help her
reintegrate into society.
A judge in Medicine Hat agreed Monday to loosen the terms of the girl's custody
so that her supervisors at an Edmonton psychiatric hospital can escort her on
visits to places such as banks and malls.
The girl, who can't be identified, appeared in court in via closed circuit
television and thanked the judge when asked if she had anything to say.
The girl's treatment team will have to receive approval from the Solicitor
General's Department before any such trips, which are still 12 to 18 months down
the road.
The girl, now 16, was 12 when her family was slain in 2006, has been restricted
to a secure building at Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
Crown prosecutor Ramona Robins did not oppose open custody, but asked Justice
Scott Brooker to clarify if all of the dozen goals for rehabilitation set out in
his original sentencing should be satisfied before granting a change.
She was concerned about the 11th goal, which is to get the girl to understand
the process that led up to the murders and the impact of her crime.
``When I review the (girl's psychiatric) report, I don't see that goal being
achieved as well as perhaps other ones have,'' said Robins.
Dr. Vinesh Gupta, the psychiatrist in charge of the girl's treatment, says the
teen may never understand why she killed her parents and brother and the
consequences.
``In some ways we feel that we will not be able to achieve that goal,
specifically, in its entirety,'' Gupta told the court.
``The expectation is not that she will fully achieve that before she is
discharged but we will continue to work on it.''
Gupta added the teen has made significant improvements in that area over the
last six months.
She has met with family members in the last few months, which has also been
beneficial, Gupta told court.
Details of those meetings are contained in the psychiatric report that has not
been released to the public.
The judge agreed to Robins' request to increase the teen's sentence reviews to
every six months from once a year.
Outside court, Katherin Beyak told reporters open custody will allow her client
to gradually integrate back into society.
When asked if the girl still poses a threat to the community, Beyak said the
risk is manageable.
``That is why (the treatment team) has suggested the open custody setting.''
Robins told reporters she is still troubled by the girl's lack of recognition of
her role in the murders.
Jeremy Steinke, 25, the girl's former boyfriend, was convicted of first-degree
murder for his part in the killings and was sentenced to life in prison with no
chance of parole until April 2031.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/9013879.html
======================================================================
Canwest publishing OKs Post transfer
Rejoins other newspapers after four years
National Post
Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009
Canwest's publishing division signed a deal last night to reunite the National
Post with its other newspaper assets after a four-year absence.
Pending court and senior lender approval, the 11-year-old national newspaper
will be transferred from Canwest Global Communications Corp.'s holding company,
Canwest Media Inc. (CMI), to Canwest Limited Partnership (LP), which operates 10
major city dailies across the country. The move follows weeks of negotiations
between debtors of the two entities over the price of the Post and terms of the
move.
"I can attest that the return to the fold is prompted not by misguided altruism,
but by good business sense," said National Post CEO and President Paul Godfrey.
" The publishing group leadership understands the true value of the Post, and
its contribution to the larger group,'' said National Post President and CEO
Paul Godfrey.
"I came to the Post in January knowing there is a bright future for this paper.
The move into the LP confirms that,'' he said.
Gordon Fisher, Publisher of the National Post, said: "This brings stability to
the Post and will result in stronger, more strategic newspaper operations with
print and online assets in virtually every major city across Canada.''
In September, 2005, Canwest announced a trust offering of a 26% stake of its
newspaper holdings as part of a bid to raise $1.45-billion. The CanWest
MediaWorks Income Fund initial public offering included dailies Victoria Times
Colonist, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver's The Province, Edmonton Journal, the Calgary
Herald, Saskatoon
StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Windsor Star, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal's The
Gazette, as well as the free dailies Dose and its share in the commuter
give-away Metro in Vancouver and Ottawa. Also included were 26 community
newspapers and Canwest's multiple Internet properties.
It did not include the National Post because its financial situation at the time
would have been viewed as a drain on the trust. Instead, it was transferred to
the holding company for the parent, where it has resided pending resolution of
the court-requested transfer.
The following month, when the trust went public, Canwest raised $550-million. A
year later, the federal government announced it would stop issuing advance tax
rulings for potential income trusts and eliminate the tax-advantaged status of
trusts by 2011, which significantly cooled investor interest in the investment
vehicle. In May 2007, Canwest announced it was buying back the newspaper income
trust for about $55-million less than the original sale price. The transaction
was completed in July, 2007 and the wholly owned division was renamed Canwest
Limited Partnership.
Meanwhile, CMI, which directly holds Global Television and a host of specialty
channels, remains in creditor protection in order to reorganize its assets and
satisfy debtor arrangements. As CMI restructures with a view to emerge from
creditor protection, the LP continues to operate as usual and is meeting current
debtor commitments, after temporarily being in breach of loan covenants in the
spring. The newspaper unit, which pulls in about $1-billion in annual revenue,
holds about $1.5-billion in debt, much of that from the buyback of a 25% stake
in 2007 for just under half a billion dollars.
Canadian companies file for protection under the Companies' Creditors
Arrangement Act (CCAA) when they need time to negotiate with their creditors.
During the time in which the company is under CCAA, its creditors cannot demand
payment or take any action against the company. Debtors are generally allowed to
keep possession of their assets under the control of existing management.
Suppliers are paid for services provided.
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=2158405
======================================================================
Globe Arts on Twitter
Polanski's victim asks court to dismiss case
File photo of film director Roman Polanski attending a news conference to
present his musical 'Tanz der Vampire' ('Dance of the Vampires') in Berlin
October 11, 2006. Polanski was arrested on September 26, 2009 at the request of
the United States on trying to enter Switzerland to receive a prize. REUTERS
Court filing says director's arrest has caused woman health problems and job
worries, and she just wants to be left alone
Anthony McCartney
Los Angeles — Associated Press
Published on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 12:28AM EDT
Roman Polanski's arrest has caused his victim health problems and job worries,
and she just wants to be left alone, her attorney wrote in a court filing.
Attorney Lawrence Silver urged a California appeals court to dismiss the
criminal case against the Chinatown director.
The filing with the Second District Court of Appeal on Friday said Samantha
Geimer and Silver have received nearly 500 media calls seeking comment since
Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on Sept. 26.
Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, and her family have to contend
with such pressure whenever Polanski is in the news, the six-page filing said.
Geimer, who lives in Hawaii, is being stalked by journalists from numerous
international news outlets and has received interview requests from Larry King
and Oprah Winfrey, the filing said. The Associated Press has also requested
interviews with Geimer and Silver.
"The pursuit has caused her to have health-related issues," it said. "The
pursuit has caused her performance at her job to be interfered with and has
caused the understandable displeasure of her employer and the real possibility
that Samantha could lose her job."
The filing seeks dismissal of the case against Polanski and ends with a request:
"Leave her alone."
Geimer has frequently lobbied for an end to the case.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley has said the charges can't be
dropped because the law requires a conclusion to the court process. His office
is merely trying to resolve the case, not persecute the director, he said.
The latest request by Geimer was made to the appeals court, which is being asked
by Polanski's attorney to order a lower court to rule on a motion to dismiss the
charges.
The Academy Award-winning director is resisting efforts to return him to Los
Angeles.
Geimer was 13 when she met Polanski, who was accused of raping her after plying
her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill during a modelling shoot in 1977.
He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs,
child molesting and sodomy.
Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse, and a judge sent him to
prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. He was released after 42 days by an
evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again.
The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the
remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a
voluntary deportation. Polanski fled the country the night before he was
scheduled to be sentenced in 1978.
Geimer sued Polanski in 1988 when she was 25. Polanski agreed to pay her
$500,000 (U.S.), but it's unclear if she ever received the full amount.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/polanskis-victim-asks-court-to-dismiss-\
case/article1339457/
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to: [estate of] aicap [att: dfait consulars, dhs/ice, doj et al]
dated: 8 oct 2009
re: information request for vadim vassilenko
dear sir, madam:
my name is vadim vassilenko. i am a citizen of kraine, and i am
interested in services provided by your organization.
i was arrested on february 15, 2006, by the manhatten district
attorney's office on business related charges, and since then my
trial preparation has not even started.
i have surrendered my "green card" in order to be qualified for
early deportation program, but this government is not interested
to deport me back to my native country of ukraine.
you might google my name to have an idea that has happened to me,
or i can mail you more information after i hear from you.
please contact me by phone 212-501-2778, voice mail, or by mail:
vadim vassilenko
3000700735/obcc
16-00 hazen st., 8 lower
e.elmhurst ny 11370 usa
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[legal mail]
to: [estate of] a.i.c.a.p. [att: dhs/ice, dfait consulars, doj et al]
dated: october 10, 2009
dear sir or ma'am:
i have read about your organization in the law library and,
although i am not a canadian, i am hoping you may be able to
help me in some manner.
i am a turkish national incarcerated in a u.s. prison for the last
six years. both my home country turkey and the u.s. are a part of
an international treaty that allows the transfer and exchange of
prisoners. i have applied for this program to serve the remainder
of my sentence in a turkish prison. unfortunately, my application
was denied. when i made further inquiries, i was informed that
this denial was "due to the seriousness of the crime, the strong
objections from both theoverseeing judge and the prosecuting
attorney." i have been told to wait two years and try to apply
again.
at the momenti don't really know what to do. i am hoping that you
may be able to guide me in the proper direction.
thank you for your time.
sincerely,
sincerely,
mert celebisoy
869393
clallam bay corr center
1830 eagle crest way
clallam bay, wa
98326
cc:
enc: letter of denial (doc-march 05, 2009)
----------------------
(enclosure)
from: state of washington dept of corrections
p.o. box 41100, olympia, washington 98504-1100
dated: march 5, 2009
to: mert celebisoy, doc 869393
clallam bay corr center
dear mr. celebisoy:
your international transfer to turkey, country of citizenship
and treaty nation, pursuant to rcw 43.06.350, rcw 72.68.010,
rcw 137.67, and washington state department of corrections
policy 330.770 has been reviewed.
your request was reviewed by he secretary of the department of
corrections and by the governor of the state of washington.
the final decision was to deny your request for international
transfer to turkey.
sincerely,
eric jackson, correctional program manager
classification unit
prisons division
ej:blj
cc: turkish consulate
counselor scott osborne, cbcc
file
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[legal mail - update]
dated: 10/7/09
dear [estate of] aicap-aifap: [att: dhs/ice, dfait consulars, doj
et al]
i pray that this letter finds all on your location in the best of
health and high spirits.
i am writing about my original request for assistance with my
application for transfer under international prisoner transfer
treaty back to my home country of belize.
as my previous letters to you indicated, my request was denied.
however, there is still a petition for judicial review pending
in baltimore city circuit court, which i filed after the doc
refused to give me a response to my request for transfer. the
doc have responded since then, but an order by the court for
punitive damages against the doc is still pending.
i was recently informed that the maryland doc is considering
allowing the deportation of foreign nationals on a case by case
basis.
i am not sure how to take advantage of this new development, or
if any action on my part is needed. that is why i am writing
to ask if any action was taken by you in my behalf, the overall
status of any action taken, or if the doc do decide to allow
some deportation/transfer whether this development can be used
to help me?
in closing, i would greatly appreciate any assistance you can
lend me with the deportation/transfer, regardless of how small
it may seem. i look forward to hearing from you. thank you!
yours truly,
selvyn tillett 163944
mcih
18601 roxbury rd.
hagerstown, md 21746
usa
http://www.voiceforinmates.com/inmates/selvyntillett163944.htm
email: selvyntillett163944@...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
aicap estate office response to letter from
john howard society of ontario dated 9 october 2009:
att: else marie knudsen; eknudsen@...
"effective, just and humane responses to crime and its causes"
our former contact with your office was bill sparks.
aicap founder rev al fedri-gucci, now deceased, had been
corresponding with executive director graham stewart at
the national office for at least a decade prior to graham
stewart's retirement and al gucci's passing. (his sister
advises that they did not resuscitate him. according to the
death certificate, he apparently died of a heart attack at
the age of 65. he had just started to receive his canadian
pension.)
apparently ms. knudsen has been misguided in some
information she has received, as well as misconstruing the
dynamics of what this informant movement is about.
the people that have
been writing to this non-funded volunteer organization for over
20 years prior to rev al's death have been and are mostly
referred by word of mouth are desperate to return
to their home countries. Most of them have been violated by
various states and/or prison administrations
of their legal rights not only to transfer, but to be deported,
for which there is a $250,000 fine in each case and a up to a
possible 20 or 25 years in prison in some states.
ms.knudsen also underestimates the system flaws which have been
experienced first hand by some who wish to remain anonymous
but also realize that is their legal duty to file reports and/or
refer communications to those advocates, organizations and/or agencies
etc., government and otherwise, may might be in a position to
provide some support, especially since most of these particular
foreign nationals are indigents and cannot afford lawyers.
Many of them have not yet been reported to immigration authorities
and are kept stranded without a ways and means of making a living legally once
released to 'parole'. Some are forced to work within
the prison system illegally.
Many university professors and law students are also conducting studies and/or
are given pro bono projects as part of their cirriculum. There are over 1000
people on this newsgroup who have
witnessed many violations for almost 10 years. I would assume (and
hope) that they are receiving correspondence from news media as
well. It is quite an eclectic list. But for a John Howard Society
to express a reaction such as the one ms.knudsen just did, makes
one wonder how hypocritcal it is that they are funded by the
canadian government, when we see articles in the press, in which
we see parliament reps and prime ministers addressing similar
issues related to refugees and terrorists, when the canadian
nationals should be given first priority. at least even in
rev. al's death, we will see to it that these canadians have a
voice. hopefully an entire movement contained here will come to their aide. it
has happened before.
and furthermore, as in ms. knudsen's case, it would not be fair to make
assumptions before knowing all the facts or not even having
some of the facts straight. for this reason, we have added a
database on this group as a synopsis to this mail.
individuals also have civil rights quite similar to the miranda rights - the
right not to say anything, especially if what you say may be used against you or
if one is not under any obligation, or if one may be compromising one's
position, etc. believe it or not, we have an obligation to expose legal
violations, especially those made by governments - a moderator
======================================================================
Polanski lawyers divided over surrender
Home » News » World
Thu, 22 Oct 2009
News: World
Lawyers for Roman Polanski have split on strategies, with one suggesting for the
first time that Polanski might voluntarily return to the US to face justice in
California for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Until now the position had been that the Oscar-winning director, who has been a
fugitive for 31 years, would not surrender to US authorities.
The new approach emerged on Wednesday, a day after a Swiss court dealt the
76-year-old filmmaker a major setback by rejecting his release from jail because
of the high risk he would flee again.
Polanski, who has until October 29 to appeal the decision, faces lengthy
detention if he is unsuccessful in the bail bid and continues to fight
extradition.
"If the proceedings drag on, it's not completely impossible that Roman Polanski
might decide to go explain himself in the United States, where there are
arguments in his favour," one of his lawyers, Georges Kiejman, told Europe 1
radio.
Kiejman could not be reached afterward to elaborate, but fellow Polanski
attorney Herve Temime rejected the idea that the director's legal team was now
considering waiving extradition. Both lawyers are based in Paris.
Polanski has not set foot in the United States since fleeing sentencing in 1978.
He did not even return when he won the Academy Award in 2003 for directing "The
Pianist."
"We continue to fight extradition, and for him to be free," Temime told The
Associated Press in a telephone interview. "There is absolutely no change of
strategy."
Beyond challenging the court's October 19 bail denial, his legal team can submit
a new proposal, possibly substituting a massive cash guarantee instead of his
Gstaad chalet as security. They have also unsuccessfully proposed some form of
house arrest and electronic monitoring as further conditions for his release.
The director of such film classics as "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" was
accused of raping the 13-year-old girl after plying her with champagne and part
of a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot in 1977. He was initially indicted on
six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy.
Polanski pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. In
exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to
prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released after 42
days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again.
The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the
remainder of the 90 days after which he would seek "voluntary deportation."
Polanski then fled the country on February 1, 1978, the day he was scheduled to
be sentenced to the additional time.
Polanski, a French native who moved to Poland as a child, has lived in France
since fleeing the US. He was arrested on September 26 as he arrived in Zurich to
receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival.
Swiss officials tipped the United States about Polanski's visit and set in
motion his apprehension, according to documents obtained by the AP. On
Wednesday, a top Swiss official defended the move.
Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said the emails - obtained in Los Angeles
by the AP under a US public records request - showed that Swiss officials
followed proper police procedure when a wanted individual is expected in
Switzerland.
"An arrest is a big operation," Galli told the AP. "If we know a wanted
individual is coming, we always ask if the arrest warrant is valid."
According to the emails, the Swiss ministry sent an urgent fax to the US Office
of International Affairs on September 22 stating Polanski was traveling to
Zurich.
The director was to be feted at a film festival, and Swiss officials wanted to
know if the US would be submitting a request for his arrest since he was the
subject of an international law enforcement "Red Notice." "The Americans
immediately confirmed that was the case," Galli said.
As a result, Switzerland was required by treaty to apprehend Polanski, he said.
Galli also addressed the nagging question of why authorities decided to go after
Polanski now, even though he has been a frequent visitor to Switzerland. Unlike
his previous visits, he said, Polanski's appearance this time was widely
advertised, with the Zurich Film Festival promoting its upcoming tribute to the
director on its website.
Several Swiss politicians and commentators have argued that Switzerland may have
co-operated too energetically, and that recent US-Swiss troubles over wealthy
American tax cheats and Swiss banks may have provided motivation for the arrest.
But Swiss authorities have adamantly rejected that suggestion.
After receiving the tip, US federal officials alerted the Los Angeles district
attorney's office, which immediately began drafting an arrest warrant.
Laura Sweeney, a spokeswoman with the US Department of Justice, said she could
not comment on any of the events leading up to Switzerland's fax to the United
States.
US district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said it was not unusual for her
office to receive information on fugitives' whereabouts, but she declined to
comment further.
Peter Cosandey, a former Zurich prosecutor, described the warrant procedure as
normal.
Dieter Jann, another ex-district attorney, agreed.
"It's absolutely normal for countries to exchange tips on wanted people and to
invite each other to take action," he said. "If it wasn't Polanski, everyone
would think this is right.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/79190/polanski-lawyers-divided-over-surrender
======================================================================
Friday, October 23, 2009
News Canada
Nurse: Mentally ill man seemed fine when admitted to jail
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
HALIFAX — The nurse who admitted a mentally ill man to a Nova Scotia jail where
he later died says he didn’t appear to be acutely ill when he arrived.
Sandra McLeod was the nurse in charge at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional
Facility when Howard Hyde was dropped off there by deputy sheriffs on Nov. 21,
2007.
McLeod told an inquiry into Hyde’s death today she knew Hyde had not been taking
his medication to deal with schizophrenia, and she knew he had been Tasered by
police after he was arrested for an alleged assault.
But she says that the 45-year-old man followed her directions, answered her
questions and did not appear to be disoriented, hallucinating or agitated.
She also says she was aware of a doctor’s instructions to have Hyde sent back to
a Halifax hospital if he did not receive a psychiatric assessment — but she did
not consider the note to be an official doctor’s order.
McLeod has wrapped up her testimony at the inquiry.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2009/10/21/11476151.html
======================================================================
County signs on to agreement with ICE
By Uriah A. Kiser
Published: October 14, 2009
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors authorized the county police
chief to enter a new agreement with the U.S. Department of Immigration on
Tuesday.
Under the agreement, police will target illegal aliens who have committed
serious “type 1” offenses, like murder, rape and robbery. When a person has been
arrested and processed at the jail, and has been determined to be inside the
country illegally, police will issue a detainer and refer them to Immigration
and Customs Enforcement.
Officials at the Prince William County jail have issued 2,041 detainers and have
delivered 1,923 prisoners to ICE since the original 287(g) agreement was signed
in 2007, said jail superintendent Col. Peter A. Meletis.
The 287(g) accord between the county and the U.S. Department of Immigration
allows local law enforcement officers to enforce certain immigration laws in an
effort to “combat specific challenges in their communities,” according to the
ICE Web site.
The agreement mirrors a previous agreement signed with federal immigration
authorities three years ago.
“Operationally, this will not change or make any significant changes in the way
this police department has been operating,” said Prince William police Chief
Charlie T. Deane.
Under the current system, if an illegal immigrant is convicted of a crime, that
person completes their sentence and then is transferred into ICE custody.
Those who commit “type 2” or other offenses will not be referred to ICE unless
they have had previous dealings with immigration officials. ICE would identify
those suspects as illegally entering the country for a second time.
The newly signed agreement comes as the jail began fingerprinting inmates with a
new process on Tuesday which will allow them to immediately identify criminal
aliens.
Now when jail officers take fingerprints, the records will simultaneously be
checked against both FBI criminal history records and a records database kept by
the Department of Homeland Security, according to press release from U.S.
Customs and Immigration spokeswoman Cori W. Bassett.
The initiative, called Secure Communities, is administered by ICE and is now
offered to more than 12 state and local law enforcement agencies in Prince
William County that use the Prince William-Manassas Regional Jail, Bassett
stated.
The program has already been implemented in 80 counties, including Fairfax, and
is expected to be offered nationwide by 2013.
Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.
http://www2.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/county_signs_on_to_agreement_w\
ith_ice/45184/#
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Brothers accused in Russian brides case must stay in jail
Posted: Oct. 13, 2009
Raleigh, N.C. — Two brothers accused of arranging marriages between Russian
women and Fort Bragg soldiers must stay in jail while they await their trial
scheduled for January, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Senior U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan said Alexander "Sasha" Manin and
Pavel "Pasha" Manin pose a serious flight risk, especially since Pavel Manin had
an overseas flight booked on the day federal immigration agents arrested him.
"The risk of flight here is compelling," Flanagan said. "This is very serious
criminal conduct."
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Bowler said the brothers had multiple overseas
contacts and cash flow that could help them flee the country if they wanted.
Attorneys for the Manin brothers argued that their clients, who are Russian
immigrants, love the U.S., served in the U.S. military and would not leave the
country.
Federal immigration agents said the brothers devised a complicated web of
fraudulent marriages between Russian women and Fort Bragg soldiers so the women
could obtain U.S. citizenship.
The benefit for the soldiers, agents said, is that they could move off post and
get extra money in their paychecks for being married.
The brothers collected fees of $3,000 to $5,000 from the women for arranging the
marriages, according to an indictment.
The brothers themselves were also involved in fraudulent marriages and were able
to become naturalized citizens after marrying American women, prosecutors said.
A woman who married Alexander Manin told agents that she is a lesbian and was
just trying to help her friend get citizenship.
A rigged marriage is a significant crime, according to immigration officials,
especially when it deals with soldiers and the potential for a threat to
national security.
“We would take a similar look at nuclear power plants, airports – where they
staff employees in those critical areas. We have to take a look. We can’t be
wrong,” said Tom O’Connell, an agent in charge at the Raleigh office of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While there's no evidence that the women were after national secrets, the Army
is out some cash.
Extra pay and benefits for four soldiers who are accused of marrying Russian
women, plus the Manin brothers' marriages, amounted to at least $200,000 over
several years, according to prosecutors.
Reporter: Kelcey Carlson
Photographers: Richard Adkins, John Cox
Web Editor: Kelly Hinchcliffe
Copyright 2009 by Capitol Broadcasting Company.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/wral_investigates/story/6202763/#
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Breaking News, Governor »
Oregon plan to deport prisoners early hits federal snag
By Susan Goldsmith, The Oregonian
October 15, 2009, 7:23PM
Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian
A guard tower at the Oregon State Penitentiary.Oregon lawmakers planned to save
$2.1 million over two years by transferring 175 prisoners to federal immigration
authorities for deportation before they complete their sentences.
But federal officials, who have deported prisoners early for other states, say
the Oregon Constitution may prevent them from deporting the Oregon inmates
early. Federal and state officials are trying to resolve the issue while each
day of delay erodes the savings that legislators anticipated.
The legal disagreement is "a glitch," said Joe O'Leary, public safety advisor
for Gov. Ted Kulongoski. O'Leary said the governor sent a letter to the
assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday. "We let
them know the clock is ticking."
With states all over the country strapped by the recession and looking to trim
prison costs, the immigration service agreed to work with state officials to
deport criminal offenders before their sentences expire. Under the program
started last year, the inmates must have been convicted of nonviolent crimes and
must waive their appeal rights. They are told that if they re-enter the United
States illegally, they are subject to prosecution under federal statutes, with a
possible sentence of 20 years in a federal prison.
Several states have deported prisoners under the program.
Earlier this year, Oregon legislators approved a two-year budget for the
Department of Corrections that saved money by deporting nonviolent offenders
with less than six months on their sentences. Some of the inmates had come into
the United States illegally, mostly from Mexico. Others were originally legal
residents, but violated their legal status by committing crimes.
Legislators "thought this was an appropriate population of inmates to get out of
our system early," said Jennifer Black, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Corrections. Legislators also increased the amount of time inmates can shave off
their sentences due to good behavior.
Oregon's Constitution prohibits criminal sentences from being set aside without
a formal court hearing -- unless the governor grants a pardon or commutes the
sentence. With that in mind, legislators spelled out in the bill that Kulongoski
would commute the sentences so the prisoners could be deported.
Now, the governor's office says federal officials have told them that Oregon's
method of commuting sentences doesn't fit the federal program's standard
agreements. For Oregon to participate in the program, the state needs a special
agreement.
Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the immigration service, declined comment,
saying negotiations are under way.
The governor's office wants a written agreement.
"Because the governor is going to be using his commutation power, he wants
clarity on the deal," said Kulongoski spokesman Rem Nivens.
Once a sentence is commuted, Nivens said, that person is free and cannot be
returned to state custody. State officials want to make sure the inmates are
deported.
The state had expected to save $700,000 by Dec. 1 through the early deportation
program. If those savings aren't realized, legislators will have to make
adjustments when they reconvene in February. The state cannot run a deficit, so
any shortfall has to be made up by other cuts or increased taxes.
Jennifer Boyter, associate director of policy for the Council of State
Governments, said more and more states are examining how their public safety
dollars are spent and looking for ways to reduce those costs.
Citing federal Bureau of Justice statistics, Boyter said incarcerating illegal
immigrants costs states $624 million a year. Federal prisons spend another $891
million a year, she said.
Oregon's 14 prisons house about 14,000 inmates; 1,236 of them are in the country
illegally, according to the Corrections Department.
Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, a group that
lobbies for stricter enforcement of immigration laws, says the maneuvering is
astonishing.
"I just think the machinations the government has to go through to follow
through on a common sense program is beyond belief," Ludwig said. "Rhode Island
has signed up for this, so has Georgia. It can't be that complicated."
-- Susan Goldsmith
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/10/oregon_plan_to_deport_priso\
ner.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@...http://www.cis.org
======================================================================
Polanski gets medical treatment
by Mnet on Mon 19 Oct 2009 12:01 AM BST |
--- Roman Polanski has been moved from jail for medical treatment. His lawyer
made the announcement on Saturday (October 17) saying that he had no details
other than the director had been taken from prison for medical attention. No
word on where he was taken or when he will be returned to prison.
Keep the music down, Madonna. At least that's what her neighbors are saying. One
of the material girl's New York neighbors have complained that Madonna is using
her apartment as a rehearsal studio, with frequent disruptive dance sessions and
loud music. The building's board says it has already threatened to evict her.
Finally, the box office numbers are in and "Where the Wild Things Are" stomped
off with the top spot in North America with 32.5 million dollars in ticket
sales. The Spike Jonze-directed film, based on the classic children's book of
the same name, overcame mixed reviews to beat most predictions for the movie's
opening weekend.
Finishing second was vigilante movie "Law Abiding Citizen," starring Jamie Foxx.
It took home a better-than-expected 21 million dollars.
In Los Angeles, I'm Bob Mezan, Reuters.
http://mpelembe.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2009/10/19/4354926.html#
======================================================================
[law union news]
Twitter Crackdown: NYC Activist Arrested for Using Social Networking Site during
G-20 Protest in Pittsburgh
Elliot Madison was arrested last month during the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh
when police raided his hotel room. Police say Madison and a co-defendant used
computers and a radio scanner to track police movements and then passed on that
information to protesters using cell phones and the social networking site
Twitter. Madison is being charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution,
criminal use of a communication facility, and possession of instruments of
crime. Exactly one week later, Madison’s New York home was raided by FBI agents,
who conducted a sixteen-hour search. We speak to Elliot Madison and his
attorney, Martin Stolar.
Guests:
Elliot Madison, New York-based social worker and member of the Tin Can Comms
Collective. He was arrested and later had his home raided for using Twitter to
spread information about police actions during the recent G-20 protests in
Pittsburgh.
Martin Stolar, attorney for Elliot Madison
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: For our first segment, we turn to a case of a New York
activist who’s believed to be among the first to face criminal charges for
communicating electronically with protesters about police actions. Elliot
Madison was arrested last month during the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh when
police raided his hotel room. Police say Madison and a co-defendant used
computers and a radio scanner to track police movements and then passed on that
information to protesters using cell phones and the social networking site
Twitter. Madison is being charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution,
criminal use of a communication facility, and possession of instruments of
crime.
Exactly one week later, Madison’s New York home was raided by FBI agents, who
conducted a sixteen-hour search. The agents seized items including computers,
clothing, books and the records of Madison’s clients in his job as a social
worker. Madison has since won a temporary order barring agents from examining
his seized property.
For more, Elliot Madison joins us here in the firehouse studio. We’re also
joined by his attorney, Martin Stolar.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now!
ELLIOT MADISON: Thank you.
MARTIN STOLAR: Thank you, Sharif.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Elliot, let’s begin with you. Begin by describing exactly
what you were doing in Pittsburgh during the G-20 and your subsequent arrest.
ELLIOT MADISON: Well, there were protests during the G-20, and a group of people
came together called the Tin Can Comm—Communications—Collective. And they were
putting up basically message boards. There was a message board for food. There
was a message board for legal. There was a general message board. There was a
message board just for announcements.
And how Twitter works is, traditionally people can text one—instead of just
texting from me to you, I could text everyone that chose to follow me, OK? So,
the only difference in this setup is that we allowed points to go to everybody
in the group. So, if Martin wanted to text you and me, he could. If I wanted to
text the two of you, I could. So it was a point of access issue. So it changed
Twitter and made it more decentralized, so people could carry on a conversation
knowing that people were spread out throughout the city. Sometimes it gets loud
and noisy, and it was a way for people to communicate, not substantially
different than the way the three of us are talking now.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And what exactly—what kind of messages were people
putting out on this site?
ELLIOT MADISON: All sorts of messages. We put on the—about different trainings.
There was a Know Your Rights training. We talked about the—there were messages I
received about the raid on the Just Seeds food bus. There was information about
where meet-ups were for different marches, like the students’ march. To be
honest, I didn’t see most of the messages, because I was arrested very early on
Thursday.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: That’s the first day of the G-20.
ELLIOT MADISON: The first day. So, before the first day, there weren’t many
messages, because there were just a few announcements about, you know, different
meetings and things like that.
And the thing to remember is this was a public site. I mean, the AP articles
with the lieutenant detective of operations says he was on our LISTSERV. CNN
said they were on our LISTSERV. I mean, a whole variety of journalists, New York
Times journalists, joined. Anybody could join. It was a public number. We don’t
know who joined. It wasn’t important. And anybody could send information to the
group, and it would be sent out to everybody.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And so, you were sitting in your hotel room, and the
police came in. Describe what happened.
ELLIOT MADISON: Where there was a—door was flung open. I assume they had a key.
Just to be clear, the hotel room was under our names. Our car was parked right
out front. We weren’t doing anything clandestine, weren’t expecting the police
to come in.
A number of agents from the state police came in and—you know, with guns drawn,
and held us for about an hour in handcuffs, though we weren’t arrested at that
time, and told us we were free to go. But we decided to stay and watch them and
wait for the warrant. We weren’t presented a warrant right away. A warrant
finally came, but it’s a sealed warrant, so we only got to see the face sheet of
it. We don’t know why—we know what they were looking for, but we don’t know
the—how they got the information, because it’s sealed. According to the face
sheet, it’s eighteen pages long.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And Martin Stolar, explain the charges. They include
charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, criminal use of a
communication facility, and possession of instruments of crime. What does that
mean?
MARTIN STOLAR: Essentially, what Elliot is charged with is using the computer or
the cell phone to put up an announcement that said that the police had issued an
order to disperse. Having done that and having informed people that the police
had issued the order, then it is claimed that that announcement hindered
prosecution somehow by, I guess, having people avoid being arrested. It would
seem to me that that is something that provides some benefit to the police
department, in terms of saving them the expenditure of resources in processing
people. But they’ve decided to criminalize that communication, or at least in
their complaint that’s what they say, that the communication that said, “Hey,
there’s been a dispersal order; everybody be aware of it,” somehow turns into a
crime of hindering prosecution. The communication facility then, the cell phone
or the computer that was used to post that message, becomes an instrument of the
crime, and the use of that mass communication facility becomes, they claim under
Pennsylvania law, a third crime.
This is just unbelievable. It is the thinnest, silliest case that I’ve ever
seen. It tends to criminalize support services for people who are involved in
lawful protest activity. And it’s just shocking that somebody could be arrested
for essentially walking next to somebody and saying, “Hey, don’t go down that
street, because the police have issued an order to disperse. Stay away from
there.” All of a sudden, essentially, that becomes the crime that Elliot and his
co-defendant are charged with.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And they may be the first to be charged criminally with
sending information electronically to protesters about the police. What’s the
significance of this in terms of First Amendment rights?
MARTIN STOLAR: It—
ELLIOT MADISON: Can I just clarify it?
MARTIN STOLAR: Sure.
ELLIOT MADISON: We’re not—we’re not the first. We’re the first in this country.
During the Twitter revolution going on in Iran, in Moldova, in Guatemala, in the
earlier newscast about Honduras, in all those cases, repressive governments have
arrested folks for using Twitter. The only difference is, in all those cases the
State Department, the US State Department, has condemned the arrest of these
Twitter activists and had gone so far in the Iranian situation, the State
Department, according to an article, asked Twitter to postpone its regular
maintenance so as not to interfere with Iranian protesters to be able to send
out their tweets. So the only difference is we’re the first arrested here. But
this is a—over the past two years, repressive governments have been arresting
people. The only difference is, the State Department has supported—I’m expecting
the State Department will come out and support us also.
MARTIN STOLAR: Oh, you think so, do you?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well—
MARTIN STOLAR: I mean, it is shocking. This is really the first case, and my
preliminary research has found that this is the only case where people involved
in protest activity have been arrested for using or for passing out information.
Essentially, this country has the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects
speech, and it protects protest activity. And what Elliot and his co-defendant
are accused of doing tends to support speech and protest activity itself. It is
speech that goes out. Putting something up on Twitter is a form of speech. And
we have some serious First Amendment problems in connection with the prosecution
in Pennsylvania.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And I want to say, we did contact Twitter and the FBI to
invite them on the program. They both declined our request. Twitter didn’t
respond. But to what extent did Twitter cooperate with the police?
MARTIN STOLAR: We don’t know.
ELLIOT MADISON: We don’t know.
MARTIN STOLAR: We don’t know. We don’t know if Twitter is cooperating with the
police. We don’t know if Twitter has been asked to cooperate with the police.
Twitter essentially is neutral here. The police could have logged onto Twitter
and seen whatever was being posted, in the same way that individuals can log
onto the police radio bands and emergency service responders, all of which is up
on the internet. If Elliot is receiving from the internet notice that an order
to disperse has been issued at a particular location and passes that public
information on to other members of the public, that’s protected speech. It is
inconceivable that that could be a crime. But that’s what he’s charged with.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: So, a week later after your arrest, the FBI raids your
home in Queens. What happened?
ELLIOT MADISON: About 6:00 in the morning, the FBI, on a Thursday, broke into
the door—we don’t know if there was a knock or not, because we were
asleep—stormed up with guns—it was about twenty or so agents with Joint
Terrorist Task Force; it was a combination of FBI and NYPD—and handcuffed me and
my housemates, held us for a few hours, two or three hours, in handcuffs,
wouldn’t let us talk, wouldn’t let us make phone calls, wouldn’t let us get
dressed, because we were all asleep. And eventually, sometime after that point,
they showed us a warrant. They wouldn’t let us read the warrant; they just
showed it to us. Our hands were cuffed behind our back. And for sixteen hours,
proceeded to take everything, from plush toys to kitchen magnets and lots of
books.
I’m an author. I’ve written fiction. I’ve written lots of nonfiction. I’m an
anarchist, so I’ve written lots of political works. So they not only grabbed all
of my works, and they grabbed anything that they felt like grabbing from our
pretty large library.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And they apparently took photos, as well, posters—
ELLIOT MADISON: Yeah.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: —from the walls, one of Lenin and one of Curious George,
apparently?
ELLIOT MADISON: Yes, yes, and they took Curious George stuffed animals. They
took magnets from the refrigerator. They took a needlepoint of Lenin that my
wife’s grandmother had made, a whole variety of bizarre things that they’ve
taken. We don’t know everything they took, because the voucher we received is
fairly vague. It will say something like “documents.” So, since the house was
tossed, it’s hard to tell if the documents are just lost or if they’re, you
know, seized at this point.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Martin Stolar?
MARTIN STOLAR: Well, I mean, the search was just extensive. And the problem with
the search warrant, which actually asked for evidence that indicated that
potentially there were violations of federal rioting laws, this is the same law
that was used to prosecute the Chicago Eight following the Republican Convention
in Chicago in 1968. Well, what would be evidence of violations of federal
rioting laws is open to question. Anarchist literature? Fiction writings that
Elliot has written? Pictures of Lenin? It’s completely vague.
And so, they rambled around and searched and pulled things. They’re not only
from Elliot and his wife Elena’s property, but also there were other residents
of the house who are living there who had their private property taken and swept
up in this, including computers and discs of somebody who’s making a film,
computers and discs of somebody who produced a weekly radio show, a computer
that actually belonged to the United States government. One of the residents of
the house was a contract employee for one of the federal agencies, and that
computer was also taken.
So, in response to that, we immediately went to federal court to say, “Hey, wait
a minute. You can’t take all this stuff. This is all sorts of private property
that has nothing to do with the violation of federal rioting laws, and we want
it back.” And we got a federal judge to say, “Maybe you have a point there. FBI,
don’t examine the boxes that you seized. Hold on, until I can examine this and
issue a further order of the court.” And so, that’s what she did. She stopped
them from going through the boxes, stopped them from going through and indexing,
cataloging and analyzing what had been seized at the house. And that’s on hold,
pending further briefing in court and pending further order of the court, which
will happen a week from Friday.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And Elliot, you spoke about how—the so-called Twitter
revolution in Iran and how that was portrayed and condemned by the State
Department in this country. I just want to go back to those days during the
so-called green revolution in Iran and how the media in this country, the
corporate media, the news networks, covered the use of Twitter in the protest.
Let’s go to a clip of them.
FOX 11 ANCHOR: Iranians are turning to social media websites like Twitter and
Facebook to tell their stories.
UNIDENTIFIED: Twitter.
MARTIN SAVIDGE: Twitter.
UNIDENTIFIED: Twitter.
HOWARD KURTZ: Has Twitter become the CNN of the masses?
KIRAN CHETRY: Here’s what some people have been tweeting about.
SCOTT HURLEY: Just type in “#iranelection.”
The US State Department actually asked the website to put off scheduled computer
maintenance.
IAN KELLY: This is about the Iranian people. This is about the—getting their
voices a chance to be heard.
ISHA SESAY: More and more tweets were appearing.
UNIDENTIFIED: Twitter.
KEITH OLBERMANN: A Twitter revolution.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Is this the first true internet uprising?
RACHEL MADDOW: This revolution might not be televised, but it is definitely
being tweeted.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Elliot Madison, some of the coverage back in summer of
the Iranian uprising following the elections. Everyone’s supporting Twitter, the
State Department actually asking Twitter not to—not to do an update. And now
you’re being arrested for using Twitter. We’re not seeing the same kind of
coverage. Your thoughts?
ELLIOT MADISON: Yeah, I think it’s a clear case where, you know, the government
authorities act like government authorities in Moldova and China and Iran, where
they like it when people have access to information, be it radio stations,
newspapers, free press, in other countries, but they’re uncomfortable with it in
their own country. And in this case, they decided to try to criminalize it.
And I think what’s very interesting in all these stories about me is that the
Tin Can Communications Collective was one Twitter feed. I have found that there
were at least twenty-four Twitter feeds going on, everywhere from the police to
the G-20 to Ron Paul supporters. Everybody had their own Twitter feeds going on.
They decided to criminalize me, I think, because of the fact that we were in
solidarity with the protesters.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, Elliot Madison and Martin Stolar, I want to thank
you very much for joining us. We’ll continue to follow this story.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/6/twitter_crackdown_nyc_activist_arrested_fo\
r#
======================================================================
Opinion
Approach MP for help with citizenship file
By Allan Thompson
Immigration Reporter
Published On Sat Oct 17 2009Email
Q: In October 2007, my family (my two sons, my daughter, and I) applied for
citizenship. My husband applied for citizenship two months later and obtained it
in July 2008 without any setbacks.
In August 2008, we received a letter asking for documents to prove the days we
had lived in Canada. We sent the documents right away. I have called to check
the status of our application and they have said they are studying our case. I
have asked how long this is going to take but they said that they do not know.
Is this delay normal? Are there alternatives to obtaining information besides
the government site or call centre?
A: Every case is different, but this timeline does seem a bit long, particularly
when you compare it with your husband's application. One step you could take is
to contact your Member of Parliament and ask for help getting information about
the status of your file. Most MPs have staff to assist constituents to obtain
information about immigration and citizenship matters. Contact your MP's office
and make an appointment to ask for assistance. Go to
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOf Commons/MemberByPostal
Code.aspx to learn the name of your MP.
Allan Thompson's column appears every second Saturday. To reach him, email
immigration@....
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/709688
======================================================================
Polanski denied bail request
Swiss authorities rule ‘there is still a very high risk that he will flee'
Sven Egenter
Zurich — Reuters
Published on Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009 8:53AM EDT
Last updated on Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009 1:52PM EDT
Swiss authorities denied a request to release film director Roman Polanski on
bail after he was arrested in September for fleeing sentencing for having
unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, a government spokesman said today.
“In our view, there is still a very high risk that he will flee and that a
release on bail or other measures after a release cannot guarantee Polanski's
presence in the extradition procedure,” Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli
said.
The 76-year-old Oscar-winning director, who holds dual French and Polish
citizenship, was arrested at the request of the United States when he flew into
Switzerland on Sept. 26 to receive a lifetime achievement prize at a film
festival.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/polanski-denied-bail-request/article131\
3448/
========================================================================
GTA
Firm to offer up to $100,000 legal coverage for $500
German company asks Ontario for permission to sell insurance policies covering
legal expenses
Tracey Tyler
Legal Affairs Reporter
Published On Wed Oct 7 2009
TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
A company with a long history of providing "legal expense insurance" in Europe
is quietly seeking approval to sell its product to Canadians, many of whom are
just one legal problem away from declaring bankruptcy.
With the cost of a routine civil trial topping $60,000 – more than most families
earn in a year – even Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has admitted access to
the justice system is more an "ideal" than reality.
But in a move some legal experts see as a potential breakthrough, the federal
government's superintendent of financial institutions has been asked to approve
a plan that would allow Canadians to purchase insurance premiums for less than
$500 a year, which would cover up to $100,000 in legal expenses, including the
cost of a lawyer preparing and arguing a case court.
The types of cases covered could include wrongful dismissal and other employment
disputes, tax problems, personal injury claims and property fights with
neighbours, according to Barbara Haynes, chief executive officer of DAS Canada,
the Canadian arm of the German company seeking to do business here.
"It will cover all of a policy holder's legal costs, if they need to pursue or
defend an action," Haynes told the Star at the firm's Toronto office. "So it is
quite a comprehensive policy."
Should a policy holder lose a case and be ordered to pay an opponent's legal
costs, insurance would pick up this expense as well, she said.
Family law cases, however, would not be covered under the policy.
Haynes said the company also plans to offer insurance to small- and medium-sized
businesses. Premiums, geared to earnings, would cover up to $200,000 in legal
expenses per case, with total coverage capped at $1 million a year.
Individuals and families could make up to five claims a year, for a total of
$500,000. A policy for drivers will be offered at under $100 a year, providing
access to legal services for problems not covered by a regular auto insurance
policy, such as traffic tickets and vehicle defect complaints.
DAS hopes to start selling policies early next year in Ontario, followed by
Alberta and British Columbia, but it must first obtain approval from the
provinces.
The Law Society of Upper Canada, which regulates Ontario lawyers and paralegals,
has been looking at the company's proposal and the concept of legal insurance,
said Paul Schabas, a Toronto lawyer who co-chairs the society's access to
justice committee.
It "works well in other countries, but has not really taken root in Canada," he
said.
Europeans spend approximately 6 billion euros a year on legal expense insurance
and an estimated 75 per cent of French and German residents have such policies.
Europe is generally less litigious than in Canada, Schabas said.
It is often in the financial interest of insurance companies to settle rather
than take a case to trial.
Stephanie Etherington of Burlington, who spent $35,000 on legal fees battling
the Halton District School Board for a suitable classroom for her autistic son,
said it would have been "very helpful if we'd had legal insurance at the time."
However, Etherington thinks it would be "very hard" for some families to
forecast "if and when" they might need legal insurance – and to find the means
to pay for it when they are already shouldering the cost of raising children.
In a 2008 report to the province on legal aid, Michael Trebilcock, a University
of Toronto law professor, urged the law society and Legal Aid Ontario to give
priority to promoting legal insurance to improve access to the justice system,
particularly for the middle class.
But the acid test for determining whether legal insurance is truly "insurance"
is whether it covers what might be termed "catastrophes" – legal problems likely
to involve time-consuming litigation, he told the Star this week.
While legal insurance is virtually unheard of in most of Canada, about 200,000
Quebecers have a form of such insurance, in addition to their auto and
residential policies, but coverage is considerably more limited.
For as little as $4 a month, for example, a policy holder can obtain up to
$5,000 worth of legal advice or assistance, typically for simple legal problems
or the drafting of a will.
More useful, Trebilcock argues, would be insurance to cover the bigger problems.
To that end, the DAS proposal seems like "a significant step forward," he said.
But one failing is that coverage will not extend to family law disputes, the
very problem people are most likely to encounter, Trebilcock said.
Haynes said conflict-of-interest concerns are one reason they're not included.
If a couple took out legal expense insurance as a family, the insurance company
might have to provide lawyers for each spouse, or deny coverage to one.
Another reason for not insuring family law cases is because the volume of claims
would be high.
Policy holders will still be able to call for some preliminary legal advice on
these cases, Haynes said.
But Trebilcock said Ontario residents can get this kind of preliminary advice
from duty counsel at most courthouses.
Still, the possibility of legal insurance becoming available is encouraging, he
said.
"I'm not denying that it is progress."
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/706635--insurance-plan-seeks-justice-for\
-all
======================================================================
Court lets Canadian spies snoop on targets overseas
Joanna Smith
Ottawa Bureau
Published On Wed Oct 7 2009
OTTAWA–
Canadian spies have gained new powers to eavesdrop on so-called homegrown
terrorism suspects travelling overseas in a court ruling that opened a small
window onto the world of high-tech international espionage.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service obtained warrants last November that
allowed the use of "intrusive investigative techniques and information
collection" within Canada for up to a year to monitor two unnamed Canadian
suspects considered a threat to national security, according to documents the
Federal Court released Tuesday.
The agency wanted to continue tracking the suspects when they left the country
but an earlier court ruling would have prevented CSIS from intercepting
communications of Canadian citizens overseas without asking the permission of
the countries where the surveillance would take place.
CSIS considered the matter "urgent" and asked the Federal Court to let it happen
anyway.
Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley gave the go-ahead for three months in
January, renewed the warrants for another nine months in April and finally
explained his decision in a partially censored ruling written Monday.
The ruling is a legal compromise involving some high-tech help from the
Communications Security Establishment, a shadowy arm of the Department of
National Defence filled with code-breakers and code-makers that collects
communications on anyone anywhere in the world in the name of Canadian foreign
policy, military and economic interests.
CSIS can spy on Canadians but could not do so beyond its borders. CSE can
collect intelligence in foreign countries but cannot operate in Canada and must
leave Canadian citizens alone. Mosley ruled the problem could be solved without
violating any laws if the two agencies worked together.
The ruling allows the court to issue warrants for the CSE to monitor Canadians
overseas because the technology is "controlled from within Canada."
Meanwhile CSE, which is already allowed to provide technical assistance to
federal law enforcement and security agencies, would only be collecting the data
while CSIS would be in charge of the actual spying.
The ruling gives Canadian intelligence officials greater powers but also forces
the court to re-examine the issue on a case-by-case basis.
The details of the warrants sought are heavily censored but at one point in the
publicly available version of his ruling Mosley notes the judge who presided
over a 2007 warrant application – the one cited as preventing CSIS from
wiretapping overseas without permission from the countries involved –
"contemplated intrusive activities in foreign jurisdictions ... that are not
being sought in the present application."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/706619--court-lets-canadian-spies-sno\
op-on-targets-overseas
======================================================================
Ashley Smith suicide prompts probe into other prison deaths
'Troubling' similarities to 2007 jailhouse suicide of teen seen in two other
inmate deaths
Diana Zlomislic
Staff Reporter
Published On Sat Oct 17 2009
20 deaths left 'unexplained'
Seventy-four federal prisoners have died since Ashley Smith's suicide at Grand
Valley Institution in Kitchener on Oct. 19, 2007. The Correctional Service of
Canada issues a brief report after each death in custody, which often indicates
cause. Here's a breakdown of how those deaths are attributed in the reports.
Natural causes – 26
Unexplained/found dead – 20
Suicide/Apparent suicide – 12
Lengthy illness – 9
Suspected overdose – 2
Inmate violence – 2
Incurable illness – 1
After respiratory distress – 1
Gunshot – 1
The federal prison watchdog is probing two more "troubling" inmate deaths, which
he says question the correctional service's ability and willingness to prevent
suicides in the wake of the Ashley Smith case.
"There have been subsequent deaths in custody, which I'm investigating – a
couple of which are very troubling and which reflect some of the same failings
we found in Ashley Smith's death," Howard Sapers, the federal correctional
investigator, told the Toronto Star.
Smith, 19, killed herself in 2007 at a Kitchener prison for women. A recent Star
story detailed how her developing mental illness went untreated and how guards
watched as she strangled herself in a segregation cell.
Sapers refused to provide details on his new probe, including the age of the
inmates who died or any prison location, saying he feared it would interfere
with his investigation. A Correctional Service of Canada spokeswoman said
Commissioner Don Head, the top official, was unavailable to comment.
There are about 13,000 inmates in federal prisons. Records show there have been
74 deaths in custody since Smith's death.
Of these deaths, the service attributed 12 to suicide. The deceased were all men
between the ages of 23 and 58. They were serving time for crimes ranging from
uttering threats to first-degree murder.
Death reports for 20 other inmates – 19 men and one woman from Joliette
Institution in Quebec – failed to indicate a cause of death.
When asked for an update on the causes of these 20 unexplained deaths, a
correctional service spokeswoman said the privacy act prevented her from
releasing information on individual cases.
Sapers' job as the ombudsman for federal prisons means he can review and act on
complaints from inmates. He also receives copies of daily incident reports
showing problems in prisons.
Smith's time in federal prison produced at least 150 of these reports, outlining
incidents where she attempted to hurt herself or others.
While every death in custody is reviewed, those meriting a "second or third
look" from Sapers' office are those in which the "circumstances present
opportunities for intervention and prevention."
"We're trying to determine whether lessons learned from previous deaths in
custody were adequately applied in such a way that they could have or should
have prevented these deaths," he said.
Since the suicide of Smith, who had been in continuous segregation in four
different provinces for nearly a year, a series of government reports and
recommendations has been issued aimed at preventing similar tragedies.
Smith, who spent 23 hours a day in isolation wearing little more than an
asbestos gown, tied a cloth ligature around her neck on Oct. 19, 2007 after
telling a guard she had the urge to "tie up" again. Ordered by managers to not
intervene so long as Smith appeared to be breathing, seven correctional officers
watched as she strangled herself. Sapers issued a report last year, concluding
her death was "preventable."
Smith was originally jailed at age 15 after throwing crab apples at a postman in
her hometown of Moncton, N.B. Her four-month sentence grew to four years after
she racked up a series of minor offences while in custody.
Federal Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said in an interview Thursday that
he hasn't received a briefing on subsequent deaths mirroring Smith's.
"There are frequently deaths in custody and often they're unfortunate – suicides
and the like – and I suspect no matter what measures you take, you'll never be
able to stop all deaths from occurring," the minister said.
A key issue that has arisen since Smith's death is the treatment of mentally ill
offenders in custody.
A report from the correctional service posted in 2007 estimated that 12 per cent
of men and 21 per cent of women were identified as having a mental health
disorder when entering the penal system.
Don Davies, NDP public safety critic (Vancouver Kingsway), said he has visited
almost a dozen correctional facilities throughout British Columbia in recent
weeks and found conditions for the mentally ill appalling.
"They warehouse them by putting them into segregation so they manage the
behaviour but they don't actually do anything to deal with the health issues.
I've seen that replicated at every institution I've been to. It's still going
on."
Prison staff are not necessarily trained to understand that disruptive behaviour
is a symptom of the illness for many offenders, as was the case with Smith.
"I know from the work I do now with women there are people who are facing those
same conditions," said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association
of Elizabeth Fry Societies, an advocacy group for women prisoners.
"I absolutely know that because I've talked to them, I've visited them and we're
trying to have them removed from the prison setting to the mental health
setting."
This week, Davies and Liberal critic Mark Holland challenged Van Loan to launch
a public inquiry to look at the treatment of women and youth in the justice
system.
Van Loan said he's satisfied that the Smith case and associated concerns about
the use of solitary confinement have been "investigated quite extensively."
"I don't know that a further investigation on top of the others is going to add
anything."
Sapers isn't convinced.
"While the service is now better informed as to what the needs of this group of
women are," he said, "that knowledge has not translated into action in terms of
providing clinical interventions."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/711798--watchdog-probes-prison-deaths
======================================================================
Headline News
Crime Down, Prison Boom Looms
By Craig Jones and Kim Pate, The Toronto Star - Monday, October 19 2009
If the federal government gets its way, Canadians will witness a boom in prison
construction coinciding with the longest steady decline in crime rates in
Canadian history.
That's the consequence of the various pieces of "get tough" legislation recently
passed or currently working their way through Parliament.
Consider this: the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences for "serious drug
crimes" in the National Anti-Drug Strategy plus the limiting of judicial
discretion in regard to credit for time served in pre-trial detention is
projected by Statistics Canada to grow the rate of incarceration by as much as
10 per cent.
The government claims that ending two-for-one credit for pre-trial detention
will alleviate the overcrowding crisis in provincial detention centres by
encouraging more guilty pleas and introducing "truth in sentencing." The
resulting surge in Canada's rate of incarceration, currently hovering around 149
per 100,000 population, would require roughly 3,000 new beds for men and about
10 to 15 per cent of that number for women.
So what? Bad people go to jail, right? It should be that simple, but it's not.
When governments "crack down," the American evidence shows that they quickly
catch the worst of the worst before reaching into the pool of the non-violent –
people who might represent a threat to themselves but are little risk to their
communities.
The worst crime for most of these people is either that they are racial
minorities (aboriginals will be particularly hard hit) or that they started
falling through the cracks in elementary school and carry the burden of various
learning and cognitive challenges, including ADD, acquired brain disorders,
ADHD, fetal alcohol syndrome, depression, trauma and a whole alphabet soup of
psychiatric and psychological syndromes.
The result is prisons swollen with greater numbers of the non-violent, mentally
ill, and poor and racialized minorities.
Currently, approximately 10 per cent of the federal prison population is
double-bunked. Prison crowding undermines the success of treatment and degrades
the working conditions of staff, encouraging higher rates of staff turnover and
poorer treatment outcomes for prisoners. Most non-violent prisoners can be more
effectively, humanely and economically treated in the community than they can in
prison, and the government has the research to prove this.
Community supervision costs roughly $23,500 a year per person compared with
approximately $101,000 a year per person on average across all security levels
to keep a man in prison, and $185,000 a year per woman.
Then there's the issue of where to put them. Current infrastructure is at or
over capacity. The passage of Bill C-25 will require temporary housing in the
short term, but it's the long term that ought to concern Canadians – for the
only land that the federal government can start building on quickly is the
prison farms.
Some of the best farmland in Canada could be swallowed up by super-max prisons
based on the American model. That is the vision endorsed by the "independent
panel" commissioned by the government and chaired by the former minister of
corrections for the province of Ontario, Rob Sampson.
So let's connect the dots. The crime rate has been declining for 26 years –
those are the government's numbers – but the same government wants to build more
prisons at a cost to taxpayers of billions of dollars.
Who benefits? In the U.S. case, private prison contractors and correctional
officer unions. Everyone else loses: education, social assistance and health
care.
Does prison building buy safer communities? Not in the United States. Money
spent on increased imprisonment and longer, harsher sentences is money wasted,
because more prisons do not increase community safety – and there is ample
evidence that prisons create and reinforce criminal attitudes and
predispositions.
If more prisons resulted in less crime, the United States would be the safest
place in the world.
Canada does not need to grow its rate of incarceration, particularly in a
context of declining crime rates. We do not need to "get tough," but we do need
to "get smart."
Craig Jones is the executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada.
Kim Pate is the executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry
Societies.
- Article from The Toronto Star on October 17, 2009.
http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/crime-down-prison-boom-looms
======================================================================
New Brunswick
Former inmate guilty of counselling suicide
A man who persistently urged a fellow prisoner to kill himself while both were
being held in the Fredericton police station’s jail cells last winter has been
convicted of counselling suicide.
A jury rendered the verdict against Reudi Leslie Schori, 42, of Pembroke, Ont.,
on Friday.
In the early hours of March 19, Schori was overheard by jail guards repeatedly
chanting the word “suicide” and telling another detainee — who was locked up for
being drunk — to kill himself. The fellow detainee didn’t harm himself.
The maximum sentence for counselling suicide is 14 years in prison — whether the
act of suicide ensues or not.
Schori acted as his own lawyer.
From the Star’s wire services
http://www.thestar.cahttp://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx
======================================================================
Travel Topic: North America
Regional disparity, or things that annoy us and U.S.
By Jim Byers
Travel Editor Published On Sat Oct 17 2009
Orderly Canadians hate folks who jump ahead of them in line at the airport.
Americans hate it when people block the airplane aisle.
Canadians go nuts when someone kicks their seat or reclines the seat in front of
them.
Americans don't like boisterous kids on board.
And more Canadians than Americans hate seeing men in skimpy Speedos.
A study, called the 2009 Rudeness Poll and published online by Travelocity,
found that Canadians and Americans agree on a lot of annoying behaviour, such as
folks eating stinky food on airplanes. But we have a few, fascinating cultural
differences as well.
The study said 29 per cent of Canadians found the most annoying thing about
passengers is crowding the boarding line, compared to just 20 per cent of
Americans listing that as the worst part.
I guess we ARE pretty orderly when you get right down to it.
Fifty-nine per cent of Canadians said kicking the seat is a top example of rude
behaviour, compared to just 50 per cent for Americans, which I find pretty
weird.
Thirty-five per cent of Canadians said reclining the seat (presumably when
you're finishing your coffee and the seat comes back at you at the sort of speed
that Han Solo can only get out of the Millennium Falcon) is a top rude behaviour
incident, compared to 28 per cent of Americans.
Here's a really strange one: 33 per cent of Canadians said the most bothersome
fellow vacationer is a rowdy college student, but only 24 per cent of Americans
thought that. Are our kids much more obnoxious or rambunctious? I thought we
were so polite. I've got three kids at university and they know a thing or six
about Queen's Homecoming parties, but I don't think they'd take that kind of
behaviour on an airplane.
Another weird bit: 14 per cent of Canadians said parents of misbehaving kids
should apologize to fellow passengers, compared to just 9 per cent of Americans.
Okay, you want to know about the racy stuff, right?
Turns out 9 per cent of Canadians said the most bothersome fellow vacationer is
a guy in a skimpy Speedo, compared to 5 per cent of Americans (What, is it our
lack of a tan? Are we too fat?). On the other hand, 4 per cent of Americans said
topless sunbathers are the most bothersome, compared to 3 per cent of Canadians.
Make of that what you will. Asked about taking stuff from a hotel, 86 per cent
of Americans and 85 per cent of Canadians said they had sneaked toiletries into
their bags.
But 14 per cent of Canadians and 12 per cent of Americans insisted they'd taking
nothing (yeah, right).
Me? I love hotel shampoo bottles. I know I save maybe 10 cents worth of shampoo,
but I like them. And liquid soap. And sometimes skin moisturizer, as long as it
doesn't smell too girlie. The shampoo bottles have started to get heavy, so
lately I've started collecting plastic hotel room keys.
Some have nifty pictures, and they say you shouldn't turn them back in anyway as
they have personal information on them from the computer scans at the hotel
front desk. I don't know if this is true, but my Dad says it is and he hasn't
lied to me since the day he said I had a really good future as a ballplayer.
So, what bugs YOU the most about travelling?
Overly chatty car salesmen? People with chili breath? Parents (my pet peeve) who
don't even THINK about bringing toys and other goodies to entertain their kids
on a plane and are then surprised when junior plays "let's pull the man's
(disappearing) hair in the seat in front me?"
Email me at jbyers@... and let me know your thoughts.
Jim Byers writes a regular travel blog, which you can find at
http://www.thestar.com/travel or http://www.thestar.blogs.com/travel. You also
can check his updates on Twitter under the username jbyers11.
http://www.thestar.com/travel/northamerica/article/710224--regional-disparity-or\
-things-that-annoy-us-and-u-s
=====================================================================
News Canada True North, strong and free-spirited?
Our youth travel more, marry less than in U.S.
Lesley Ciarula Taylor
Staff Reporter
Published On Sat Oct 17 2009
Differences between us and them
Findings in the 18-34 age group:
• Canadians sent an average 78.7 text messages a week; Americans sent 129.6.
• 73 per cent of Canadians rated the environment as important; 61 per cent of
Americans did.
• 88 per cent of Canadians actively recycle compared with 72 per cent of
Americans.
• 44 per cent of Canadians rated terrorism as important compared with 65 per
cent of Americans.
• 25 per cent of Canadians are married and 18 per cent are living together,
compared with 39 per cent of Americans married and 7 per cent living together.
• 35 per cent of Canadians own their home compared with 45 per cent of
Americans.
• 48 per cent of Canadians vacationed outside Canada; 19 per cent of Americans
vacationed out of the U.S.
• 44 per cent of Canadians and 37 per cent of Americans pay most often with
debit cards.
• 80 per cent of Canadians have played the lottery in the past year compared
with 63 per cent of Americans.
Young Canadians are dramatically different from young Americans, a new
cross-border survey has found.
Canadians from 18 to 34 travel more, recycle more, play the lottery more, marry
less, text-message less and rent more than their American counterparts, the
Ipsos Reid study revealed.
"Americans come through as a little more grounded, more domestic. Canadians are
more of the free-spirit type," Samantha McAra, a 26-year-old senior research
manager with the polling company, said Friday from Calgary. "My friends and I,
we're renting, not married, have careers, like to travel. The environment thing,
too. If someone doesn't recycle, it's like you look at that person and they're
sort of judged."
McAra wrote the questions for the survey, which asked 1,000 people on each side
of the border to respond online. A telephone poll wouldn't work for a
demographic in which 34 per cent of Americans and 19 per cent of Canadians have
only a cellphone, she said.
Facebook is the social networking site of choice for Canadians, at 81 per cent
registered, compared with 57 per cent for Americans. MySpace garnered 54 per
cent of Americans, 23 per cent of Canadians.
Companies are increasingly interested in the 18-to-34-year-old market, McAra
said, because they have healthy incomes and the urge to acquire. Baby boomers,
on the other hand, have the incomes but not as strong a need to spend.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/711796--true-north-strong-and-free-sp\
irited
======================================================================
Special Section
GTA
Top Employers
Law firm judged among the best
One of the country's leading business law firms continues to be one of the best
places to work, according to Mediacorp Canada Inc.
A repeat recipient of Canada's Top 100 Employers award, Blake, Cassels &
Graydon[a former employer of yours truly], added another notch to its belt this
year, earning the further distinction of one of the Top 90 employers in the GTA.
When it came to the key areas each company was assessed in, Blakes scored
especially high on "community involvement" and "work atmosphere."
The firm has an extensive, long-standing record of charitable work, stretching
from Toronto to Vancouver and rolling out over 5,500 man hours (valued at over
$2.1 million) of legal services.
The company's pro bono policy gives billable credit to anyone at any level –
whether student, associate or partner.
Lawyers also work with non-profit organizations such as the Family Service
Association of Toronto and Nishnawbe Homes Inc., assisting homeless and
underhoused First Nations people.
Every year, the company recognizes its leading employee volunteers with a
$10,000 donation each toward the winner's favourite charity. Students also
benefit from the company's outreach initiatives. One million dollars is spent on
a national scholarship program for first-year students from 16 law schools in
Canada.
http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/top50/article/709518--law-firm-judged-amo\
ng-the-best
======================================================================
[for: consulars, dhs/ice, doj et al]
attn: alliance of incarcerated canadians/foreigners in american prisons
(aicap/aifap)
dated: sept. 28, 2009
re: deportations
dear sir/mamm,
i am a foreigner incarcerated in an american prison. i am originally
from the country of panama. i was sentenced to a term of 20 years to
life. i have since served 13 out of that 20.
my reasons for writing to your office is to seek any kind of assistance
you can provide to help me return back to my country immediately.
back in the year of 1998 i had an interview with two immigration
agents, at which time i was informed by these agents that upon
serving 1/4 of my time i would be rescheduled for another interview
for procedures of deportations..as of yet i haven't heard from anyone
pertaining to this issue.
the country of america is in a recession state at this time and i feel,
by me being here in prison is a waste of the tax payers money.
for what the state get annually for my room & board and food, that
money can better be spent towards help the recession victims.
to show how serious i am about leaving this country i even wrote a
letter to the president asking for his assistance in this matter.
i stated to the president that i have never filed for american
citizenship!
i also would like to make contact with the panamanian consulate &
embassy so as to seek the approval to re-enter the country.
so again i'm reaching out to you so as to receive any assistance
possible from your office.
i thank you for your time & efforts.
respectfully,
alberta green
#98A2117
greene correctional facility
po box 975
coxsackie, new york 12051-0975
usa
====================================================================
News Canada
H1N1 battle behind bars
Corrections mulls visitor ban, lockdown during severe outbreak
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF
Federal prisons could be required to bar visitors, isolate sick inmates or lock
down entire institutions to cope with an H1N1 outbreak.
Correctional Service of Canada is completing a "business continuity plan" to
limit the risk of infection ripping through penitentiaries.
While there has not been a single confirmed case of H1N1 in any federal
institution, incidents of respiratory tuberculosis and Norwalk virus have helped
craft emergency plans.
Leslie MacLean, CSC's assistant commissioner of health services, said a
quarantine could be imposed if employees and inmates become infected in large
numbers.
"One of the options is that if we were so reduced in staff capacity that we
needed to lock down the institution," she said. "In all the pandemic planning
that Canada has done through the public health agency, the most extreme scenario
was that up to 35% of people would actually get the influenza.
"We've been through the spring, the Southern Hemisphere has been through their
winter. We will see what the fall brings."
'VULNERABLE' INMATES
MacLean could not predict the extent of a potential pandemic outbreak behind
bars. But she did note that older infrastructure with limited ventilation, a
high number of inmates with "vulnerable" health status and double-bunking in
about 10% of the federal prison population could lead to a broad transmission of
the virus.
"Close proximity is absolutely an issue for us," MacLean said.
Exercises on simulated medical emergencies are performed four times a year in
CSC's 57 institutions, including one recent exercise to fine-tune H1N1
preparedness and response plans.
Inmates, staff and visitors will be monitored and screened for symptoms, and
could be instructed to wear protective masks.
"For inmates, where we've got the legal requirement to provide essential health
services, we will make anti-virals available for those who need treatment and we
will, when it becomes available, make the vaccine available as well," MacLean
said.
Preventive measures to date include posting information at prison entrances
warning visitors not to enter if they feel ill, encouraging hand-washing and
other hygiene practices and monitoring and educating inmates about flu-like
symptoms.
Staff will be advised to get the vaccine, but won't be forced.
"We would not have a position different than for the entire public service,"
MacLean said. "My understanding is that staff would be encouraged to access the
vaccine, but it would not be mandatory."
KATHLEEN.HARRIS@...http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/10/06/11316021-sun.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Task force advises limiting federal immigration arrest program
By Jeremy Roebuck
The Monitor (McAllen, TX), September 30, 2009
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/federal-31189-force-task.html
A U.S. government task force recommended Wednesday that the federal Department
of Homeland Security scale back an initiative that allows local authorities to
enforce the country’s immigration law.
The so-called 287(g) program — named after the section of law that created it —
should be limited to identifying illegal immigrants in state prisons and county
jails and exclude any efforts to track them down outside of criminal
investigations, the Southwest Border Task Force said.
The proposal came as part of the group’s first report to the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, which sought input in June from several border politicians,
law enforcement officials, academics and business leaders.
The task force presented 18 other proposals Wednesday on issues ranging from
streamlining the border crossing process to ongoing cooperation with Mexican law
enforcement.
“Our goal is to get all of the Southwest border on the same playing field and
draw out the realities on the border versus the rhetoric,” said Hidalgo County
Sheriff Lupe Treviño, the task force’s vice chairman.
Civil rights and Hispanic groups have urged President Barack Obama’s
administration in recent months to end the 287(g) program amid mounting evidence
that some participating police departments have used the newly granted authority
to justify racial profiling.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose jurisdiction includes unincorporated
areas outside Phoenix, has been accused of targeting individuals for immigration
review based solely on their appearance and is currently facing a U.S. Justice
Department investigation into alleged civil rights violations stemming from his
participation in the program.
Treviño, a staunch critic of 287(g) in its current form, said Wednesday that
assuming a role in enforcing federal immigration law distracts local authorities
from their primary duties and can cause problems with illegal immigrants in
their communities.
“We do not want a repeat of what has happened in Maricopa County,” he said.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced during the summer that
her department would review 287(g)’s scope. Since then, the number of
participating law enforcement agencies has swelled to nearly 70.
In addition to changing the 287(g) program, the Southwest Border Task Force also
urged Wednesday that Homeland Security place more emphasis on recruiting customs
agents for the nation’s land ports of entry.
Although Congress has appropriated money to expand the ranks of the U.S. Border
Patrol by 8,200 since 2006, hiring for customs agents has not kept pace.
Homeland Security budgets for fiscal year 2009 included funds for 2,200 new
Border Patrol agents but only 22 additional customs agents.
Other task force recommendations include:
>> Creating a White House office to coordinate approving applications for new
border ports of entry such as the soon-to-open Anzalduas International Bridge in
Mission. Currently, local entities must complete 13 steps before winning
approval and deal with four government agencies outside of Congress and the
White House.
>> Adopting clear definitions for terms such as “spillover violence,” which the
task force suggested should be narrowly defined as violence originating within a
Mexican criminal organization that plays out north of the border.
>> Setting up a federal government grant program that would routinely provide
money to border-area law enforcement.
Homeland Security is not bound to implement any of the recommended policy
changes, but Treviño, the vice chair, said he is hopeful they will receive fair
consideration.
“If DHS — or any other federal law enforcement agency — is going to meet their
mission, they are going to have to have the 100 percent cooperation of local law
enforcement,” he said. “I think this is a good first step.”
********
********
Criminal deportees often fly unescorted
By Susan Carroll
The Houston Chronicle, September 30, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6643862.html
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials routinely put illegal immigrants
unescorted on commercial flights for deportation, including some who are sex
offenders or have other criminal records, according to documents and field agent
accounts.
The practice has prompted complaints from a key U.S. senator and ICE union
leaders, who contend that putting illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes
on commercial airlines unescorted poses a severe public safety risk.
Unescorted deportees have caused disruptions on flights and have absconded after
unscheduled stops, including two Peruvian deportees who disappeared from
Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport in July, according to field agent
reports collected by union officials. Internal ICE documents show that illegal
immigrants convicted of sex crimes involving victims as young as 11 have been
allowed to fly unescorted.
'This is an absolute risk to public safety,' said Chris Crane, ICE Council 118's
vice president for Detention and Removal Operations. 'And it's happening every
day.'
Of the 27,899 illegal immigrants put on commercial airlines last year for
deportation, more than 75 percent flew unescorted, according to ICE data.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., a member of the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, said she became 'gravely concerned' about the
policy after being told of at least three instances involving unescorted sex
offenders placed on commercial flights.
Last October, she wrote to Julie Myers, the then-head of ICE, requesting that
the policy be changed to require escorts for all sex offenders. The Bush
administration took no action and did not respond to the senator's letter,
according to Landrieu's spokesman.
Each case gets a look
Pat Reilly, an ICE spokeswoman, said the agency reviews deportees' cases
individually and considers whether they have a history of criminal, aggressive
or antisocial behavior before deciding to put them on commercial flights. ICE
supervisors then assess 'the alien's risk to the public, as well as the
likelihood of absconding,' Reilly said. She added that deportees may have
records that do not necessarily make them a danger on a public flight, such as
convictions for driving while intoxicated or fraud.
Reilly said the agency tries to use ICE-managed aircraft for deportations
whenever possible, calling them secure and cost-effective. Only about 15 percent
of the 186,930 illegal immigrants removed from the U.S. by air last year were
placed on commercial flights, according to ICE data.
Reilly said if the deportees are unescorted, ICE does not need to notify the
airlines because 'they pose no risk' to the public.
ICE has coordinated the removal of 7,552 illegal immigrants classified as
'criminal aliens' via commercial flights since Oct. 1, at a cost of nearly $44
million, according to ICE.
ICE officials did not say how many of those 'criminal aliens' were unescorted.
The agency also did not respond to a request for the number of incidents and
disruptions on commercial flights.
Field agents have documented recent incidents involving illegal immigrants on
commercial flights without escorts, including:
On July 22, two Peruvians scheduled for deportation from Houston escaped after
problems aboard Continental Flight 590, which was bound for Lima, Peru,
according to union officials. The plane had taxied on the runway for hours
before a passenger became ill, forcing the plane to return to the gate and
passengers to deplane.
'Those prisoners have never been seen again,' said Crane, with the ICE Council.
ICE officials said they were looking into the Houston case last week but could
provide no information as of Tuesday on the two deportees, including whether
they had a criminal record.
The Transportation Safety Administration confirmed an April 23 incident on an
American Airlines flight from Miami to Guatemala City involving a 'disruptive
passenger.' E-mails between ICE field agents and supervisors show that an ICE
deportee had to be restrained and note that the incident is under investigation
by ICE.
Reilly said the deportee being removed 'was not a criminal and had no history of
antisocial behavior.' However, field agents reported to the union that the man
had displayed high-risk behavior before being cleared for the flight by
supervisors.
Supervisors' discretion
Under ICE's policy, deportees with no criminal record and no history of mental
or behavioral problems are generally classified as Level 1 and do not require
escorts on commercial flights.
Level 2 deportees may have some criminal history, but are not considered violent
offenders or a danger to public by ICE, and are permitted to fly unescorted.
Level 3 deportees, the highest-risk category, may have convictions for serious
or violent crimes, or a history of mental illness or erratic behavior that
triggers a mandatory escort.
A subtle policy change in 2006 allowed supervisors to use discretion on whether
or not deportees with a more serious criminal history require escorts, union
officials said.
ICE records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show that supervisors have
overridden field agents' classification of deportees and cleared them for
commercial flight unescorted.
Cases include:
A man convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl was put on a
commercial flight unescorted on June 25, 2007. The man worked at a high school
and had lured the girl to a motel and threatened her not tell anyone what he did
to her, according to the ICE escort threat assessment. He was still allowed to
fly solo, however, since a supervisor ruled he was 'basically sentenced to
probation,' and added the notation: 'not a crime of violence.'
Another man convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a 15-year-old also flew
unescorted on a commercial flight on March 13, 2007, ICE records show.
An illegal immigrant described by his probation officer as a 'pedophile' with a
record for molesting an 11-year-old was deported unescorted May 1, 2006,
according to ICE's threat assessment and internal e-mails.
In each of the cases, the field agents initially classified the deportee as a
Level 3 offender requiring an escort but were overridden by supervisors, who
adjusted them to Level 2 and cleared them to fly alone.
Senator wants ban
The Chronicle provided ICE officials with information on each of the cases
involving sex offenders, including the dates of the flights in question, but
Reilly said the agency would need more details, such as the name of the
deportee, to provide additional information.
In her letter to ICE, Landrieu said ICE should not be making case-by-case
determinations on escorting sex offenders, urging instead for a ban on putting
sex offenders on flights unescorted.
The ICE union also supports a mandatory escort policy for 'violent' criminals.
Crane said field agents have been 'trying to blow the whistle on (the policy)
for years, at the risk of their own jobs,' but so far have seen no changes.
======================================================================
Supreme Court to decide if federal medical officials can be sued for damages
By Jesse J. Holland
The Associated Press, September 30, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-supreme-court-im\
migration-custody,0,3934507.story
Washington, DC (AP) -- The Supreme Court will decide whether the family of a
now-deceased immigrant who was denied medical care for cancer while in custody
can sue federal medical officials for damages.
The case could have far-reaching implications for doctors, nurses and other
medical personnel working for governments.
Francisco Castaneda, a Salvadoran immigrant, was denied a biopsy for a painful
lesion on his penis for 11 months while in prison, despite the recommendation of
several doctors. He was later diagnosed with penile cancer, had his penis
amputated and died at age 36.
The federal government has admitted liability for medical negligence. Castaneda
and his estate also sued individual medical officials for damages, but the
government says the law requires any action to come under the Federal Torts
Claim Act.
Under that law, damages cannot be awarded against individuals, punitive damages
are not allowed, and the case would not be heard before a jury. The medical
officials named asked a federal judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in San Francisco to throw out the lawsuits, but the lower courts refused.
The medical officials appealed to the Supreme Court, saying other federal courts
have forced similar lawsuits to be filed under the Federal Torts Claim Act.
The Obama administration argues that making government medical officials
personally liable for damages would make it harder to recruit people to work for
the Health and Human Services Department's Public Health Service and other
government medical jobs.
'The court of appeals' decision will likely have an adverse impact on the
government's ability to recruit, hire and retain medical personnel for the PHS,
and may affect other federal entities that have medical missions covered by
similar immunity statutes.' Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in court papers.
Castaneda spent eight months in state prison after being convicted in 2005 of
possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute. He complained about the
lesion while at the San Diego Correctional Facility, and again when he was
transferred to immigration custody in San Pedro, Calif., because he was in the
United States illegally.
Castaneda informed Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff in 2006 that a
'lesion on his penis was becoming painful and growing,' a federal judge said.
But a government doctor would not admit him to a hospital, calling a biopsy 'an
elective outpatient procedure.'
After the American Civil Liberties complained in 2007, a doctor performed a
biopsy and said Castaneda likely had cancer.
ICE decided to release him 11 days later. Castaneda went to a hospital and was
diagnosed with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. Less than a week later, his
penis was amputated. He died a year later.
The case will be argued in front of the court in 2010.
==================================
Freeholders vote to end housing immigrant detainees in Middlesex County jail
By Tom Haydon
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), October 1, 2009
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/freeholders_votes_to_end_housi.html
Middlesex County -- Middlesex County freeholders will end a lucrative contract
to house federal immigrant detainees in the county jail to avoid having
corrections officers turned into immigration agents.
Freeholders voted unanimously for a recommendation by Freehold Mildred Scott,
who called for the county to end its more than six-year-long agreement with the
U.S. Marshal Service to house detainees in the corrections facility in North
Brunswick.
Scott said the Marshal Service was insisting the county enter the federal 287
(g) program, which allows municipal and county law enforcement officers to
simultaneously work as immigration agents, giving them authority to initiate
deportation proceedings against illegal aliens linked to serious crimes.
Joining the program, Scott said, would force the county to incur the costs of
paying the officers while they went through out-of-state training.
Also, the county would assume greater liability for the immigration work.
'By taking on the additional responsibility for no additional compensation, as
well as the increased liability as called for under the federal government’s 287
(g) program, the county would not be acting in the best interest of the
Middlesex County residents,' Scott said in a statement.
Members of the grassroots Middlesex County Coalition for Immigrant Rights
supported the freeholders decision.
Karina Wilkinson, co-founder of the coalition, said entering the 287(g) program
'would have led to civil rights violations.'
Wilkinson said the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now has the
capacity to detain for more than 33,000 immigrants nationwide,
'There’s too many detention facilities for ICE to know what is going on,'
Wilkinson said.
Activists became concerned about the housing of detainees at the jail after one
detainee, 72-year-old Arturo Suarez-Almeres died on March 2, 2008.
Suarez-Almeres, of Cuba, had been in the county facility in North Brunswick,
awaiting deportation after several drug-dealing convictions.
His death sparked allegations of neglect. However, freeholders maintained that
Suarez-Almeres had received proper medical care during his detention and died of
natural causes.
They said Suarez-Almeres had received treatment for high blood pressure, high
cholesterol and emphysema at the county corrections facility. On Feb. 28, an
electrocardiogram administered to Suarez-Almeres showed abnormalities that led
officials to take him to St. Peter’s Medical Center in New Brunswick. He died at
the hospital.
In 2008 the county jail held an average 250 to 280 detainees a day. The county’s
contract with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement generated more
than $6 million in revenue in 2007, officials said.
However, the number of detainees dropped to about 160 daily this year, county
officials said. County Administrator John Pulomena said there are about 45
detainees currently the jail, and those people should be moved by next week.
Only two government agencies in New Jersey -- Monmouth County and Morristown --
have federal approval to start 287 (g) programs, but neither of those programs
has been implemented, federal officials said.
===============================
U.S. to Revise Detention Standards for Immigration Detainees
By Cam Simpson
The Wall Street Journal, October 6, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125479445330366545.html
US 'to cut immigrant detention'
The BBC News (U.K.), October 6, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8292296.stm
Detained immigrants could be categorized by risk
By Suzanne Gamboa
The Associated Press, October 5, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iJ1PY_yb1VD4P0wk54uwSN6JfeWQD9\
B5F3R00
====================================
Arpaio plans to 'combat' ICE agreement
By JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), October 6, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/10/06/20091006a\
rpaio2871006-ON.html
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's ongoing battles with government will take
center stage this afternoon during a news conference where Arpaio will discuss
his plans to 'combat' an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.
Arpaio said on Friday that he had signed a contract with ICE that would
authorize sheriff's deputies to continue screening inmates in county jails for
immigration violations. Without an agreement that authorizes immigration
screenings on the street, deputies will need probable cause to detain a
suspected illegal immigrant until federal agents can determine the suspect's
immigration status.
Sheriff's deputies will still enforce the state's human-smuggling law, which
allows illegal immigrants to be charged as co-conspirators in their own
smuggling, but a conviction requires proving clear links to some sort of
smuggling activity, said Dan Pochoda, Arizona American Civil Liberties Union
legal director.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to approve the agreement on Wednesday, and
the paperwork is due in Washington, D.C., by Oct. 15.
In a news release, a Sheriff's Office spokesman said Arpaio was 'furious' with
the agreement and planned to hold a 2:30 p.m. news conference.
The agreement Arpaio signed last week removes the authority for sheriff's
deputies to act as federal immigration agents during the course of their
street-level enforcement duties, a function deputies had since the Sheriff's
Office and ICE entered into a similar agreement in 2007.
A copy of the agreement The Republic obtained on Monday states that, 'there are
two models for the 287(g) program, a Task Force Officer (TFO) mode or a
Detention model. Pursuant to this (Memorandum of Agreement), MCSO has been
delegated authorities under the Detention model as outlined below.'
The jail-screening effort helped officials catch nearly 30,000 illegal
immigrants since the program began in February 2007, but it was the street-level
enforcement that caused the most controversy and produced less substantial
results, capturing about 264 illegal-immigration suspects.
Federal officials have come under increasing pressure from civil-rights, labor,
religious and pro-immigrant groups to end the program, known as 287(g), because
of fears of racial profiling.
The Sheriff's Office had been operating under an umbrella agreement that
authorized the street-level enforcement and jail operations, but ICE officials
announced in July that all the contracts with local law-enforcement agencies
were under review.
Arpaio said he had been prepared to sign a new umbrella agreement, which
stressed a focus on enforcing immigration laws only in cases of serious crimes,
before the Oct. 15 deadline.
Then, ICE's deputy assistant secretary for operations, Alonzo Pena, came to
Phoenix two weeks ago and presented the sheriff with a contract that would
authorize the operations to continue only in the jails. Attorneys for the
Sheriff's Office tried to contact ICE administrators for the past week to
determine the outcome of the street-level agreement but failed to get a
response, Arpaio said.
Arpaio tied ICE's decision to separate the jail-and-street enforcement
agreements to the Justice Department's ongoing civil-rights investigation into
allegations that sheriff's deputies engaged in racial profiling while enforcing
immigration duties.
'Looks like a little politics, doesn't it?' he said.
With the deadline looming to continue any sort of agreement with ICE, Arpaio
signed the jail authorization on Friday.
====================================
Brother of bomb plot suspect chooses deportation
The Associated Press, October 6, 2009
San Francisco (AP) -- A teenager whose brother was arrested last month for
planning to blow up a Dallas skyscraper told an immigration judge he wanted to
go home to Jordan.
Eighteen-year-old Hussein Smadi appeared before a San Francisco immigration
court on Tuesday. He told the judge he wanted to rejoin his father in Jordan and
offered to pay his own ticket.
. . .
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/06/state/n130543D14.DTL\
&type=business
====================================
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@...http://www.cis.org
======================================================================
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, September 29, 2009
Aguilar-Turcios v. Holder, No. 06-73451
In a petition for review of the BIA's order dismissing petitioner's appeal from
an Immigration Judge’s order finding him removable as an alien convicted of
an aggravated felony, the petition is granted where petitioner was not convicted
of an aggravated felony as his conviction for violating Article 92 of the
Uniform Code of Military Justice did not categorically involve a depiction of a
minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0673451p.pdf
======================================================================
CN ON: OPED: Tories Take Wrong Road On Crime
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URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n913/a12.html
Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Mon, 05 Oct 2009
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: torsun.editor@...
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Mark Holland
Note: Holland is Liberal critic for public safety and national security
TORIES TAKE WRONG ROAD ON CRIME
The Harper government claims to be "tough on crime," but their discredited
U.S.-style policies on crime and punishment are making Canadians less safe.
Their ineffective and costly plan, entitled A Roadmap to Public Safety, should
more accurately be entitled A Roadmap to Public Disaster.
Modelled after failed American policies even diehard Republicans now admit are
an abject failure, it will result in more prisons and longer sentences, while
doing nothing to reduce recidivism. When over 90% of the prison population will
be released, the Harper government's failure to seriously invest in vital
programming needed for rehabilitation and reintegration, including substance
abuse treatment and mental illness care, is nothing short of reckless.
The reality is Correctional Services Canada's own statistics show more than 10%
of the federal prison population suffers from mental illnesses, and more than
60% have addictions issues. These inmates often need to be separated from the
regular offenders, receive no programming, and are released back onto the
streets directly from segregation. How can this result in anything other than
more dangerous offenders who are likely to reoffend?
If more and longer sentences were the answer to increasing public safety, the
U.S. would be the safest country in the world. Instead it is reeling under the
weight of a system that has a per capita incarceration rate 700% higher than
ours -- a difference that has more than doubled in one generation.
Yet the skyrocketing number of U.S. citizens in prison has done nothing to
lower their crime rate.
And the Harper government insists on following the same path. They have already
allocated hundreds of millions to implement a corrections policy that is
demonstrably ineffective and counterproductive.
This point was echoed in a report released last month by UBC law professor
Michael Jackson and former head of the John Howard Society of Canada, Graham
Stewart.
Their reports dismiss the government's Roadmap as "an ideological rant, which
flies in the face of the Corrections own research of what works to rehabilitate
prisoners and ensure community safety."
There is no doubt we must have stiff sentences for serious crimes, but it is
equally important to prevent the crime.
To stop crime -- to actually make our communities safer -- we have to abandon
simplistic "tough on crime" rhetoric and discredited corrections policies to
understand and attack the causes of crime. We need to stop treating our prisons
as warehouses for the mentally ill.
We must make a serious investment in mental health care, instead of locking
mentally ill offenders in segregation without treatment. We need to make
available and accessible effective programs to help people break the cycle of
addiction and crime. Rather than just throwing more people into cells -- at
huge public expense -- we need to invest wisely and more cost-effectively in
local communities, empowering them to work with youth and vulnerable people, to
steer them away from crime.
The Conservatives do not want to have an intelligent and honest discussion, nor
do they want to stop crime. They simply want to win votes by alarming us with
inflammatory and inaccurate rhetoric they can then pretend to address with
costly and ineffectual Band-Aid solutions.
Meanwhile, they have slashed crime prevention funding to less than half what it
was in 2005, and have failed to make meaningful investments in rehabilitation
and reintegration programming for offenders.
The Harper Conservatives' plan is not a roadmap to public safety -- it is a
roadmap to disaster that risks making our country a more dangerous place to
live.
- -- Holland is Liberal critic for public safety and national security
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n913/a12.html
======================================================================
Canadian anti-spam bill far from a done deal
Published On Mon Oct 5 2009
By Michael Geist
Internet Law Columnist
The introduction last spring of Bill C-27 – the Electronic Commerce Protection
Act – represented the culmination of years of effort to address concerns that
Canada is rapidly emerging as a spam haven. Industry Minister Tony Clement's
anti-spam bill has steadily made its way through the legislative process, with
the Standing Committee on Industry likely to conduct its final "clause by
clause" review this week.
Although support for anti-spam legislation would seemingly be uncontroversial,
various business groups have mounted a spirited attack against the bill,
claiming requirements to obtain user consent before sending commercial email
will create new barriers to doing business online. The Conservative MPs on the
committee have remained supportive of the bill, yet Liberal MPs have expressed
growing concern about some of the bill's provisions.
A close examination reveals that the bill sets reasonable limits for online
marketing consistent with laws found in countries such as Australia, New
Zealand, and Japan. In fact, there are four major caveats to the consent
requirement.
First, the bill includes a business-to-business exception so that businesses
that send commercial email to other businesses are immediately exempt from the
need to obtain consent.
Second, the bill only applies to commercial email. Non-commercial email between
friends, family, and colleagues is excluded.
Third, a wide range of business-to-consumer commercial email is also outside the
ambit of the bill. For example, businesses can rely on "implied consent" to
contact existing customers for a full 18 months and even contact non-customers
who merely make an inquiry for six months. In other words, simply inquiring
about long distance plans or hotel room availability opens the door to six
months of electronic messaging under the guise of implied consent.
Fourth, all other commercial messaging to consumers is permitted – there are no
limits – so long as the business has obtained prior consent. There are some form
requirements, but nothing that should be considered particularly onerous.
Notwithstanding the implementation of similar opt-in systems elsewhere, some
Canadian businesses argue that obtaining prior consent is problematic. These
groups would prefer an "opt-out" approach whereby they could continue to send
electronic messages to consumers and force them to request no further messages
be sent.
Whenever such concerns are raised, politicians would do well to ask a simple
question – is obtaining consumer consent really so unreasonable? Is it
unreasonable to obtain consent before sending a commercial message about a new
service or product? Is it unreasonable to obtain consent before installing
software on a personal computer? In most instances, the answer is no.
Canadians frustrated with the lobbying against the anti-spam bill can be
forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu since it bears a striking
similarity to the efforts to water down Canada's do-not-call list. When the bill
establishing the do-not-call list was first introduced, it featured strict
limitations on unwanted telemarketing.
However, after weeks of business lobbying, the bill was gutted with new
exceptions for business relationships, charities, political parties, polling
companies and newspapers. The end result is that the majority of telemarketing
calls remain perfectly legal, despite the inclusion of millions of phone numbers
on the do-not-call list.
History may repeat itself this week with the anti-spam bill. While this should
be a non-partisan issue, reservations from some opposition MPs about the content
of the bill suggest that Canada's contribution to the fight against spam is
still far from a done deal.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at
the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@... or
online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/705294
======================================================================
Polanski promised $500K to rape victim in '93 settlement
Story Highlights
Rape victim filed civil claim against director Roman Polanski
He still owed the money three years later; it's unclear whether he ever paid
Court papers document efforts by the victim's lawyers to garnish residuals
Polanski fighting extradition after Switzerland arrest in 1977 case
updated 10:15 p.m. EDT, Fri October 2, 2009
By Alan Duke
CNN
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Roman Polanski in 1993 agreed to pay his sexual
assault victim $500,000 to settle a damage claim she filed against the fugitive
film director, according to court papers released Friday.
Director Roman Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to having unlawful sex with a
13-year-old girl.
Polanski still owed the money -- plus another $100,000 in interest -- three
years after the settlement, according to the documents.
It's not clear if Polanski ever completed paying the claim, which was filed 12
years after the crime. The court papers document efforts by the victim's lawyers
to garnish residuals and other payments owed to Polanski by the Screen Actors
Guild, movie studios and other Hollywood businesses.
The papers, 747 pages in all, are mostly legal arguments and opinions filed
during the five years the lawsuit made its way through the California court
system. The suit was complicated by the fact that Polanski refused to return to
the United States to defend himself.
Ultimately, an appeals court ruled that he did not have to be present to fight
the suit.
Polanski pleaded guilty in August 1977 to having unlawful sex with Samantha
Geimer, then 13, five months earlier. Other charges were dropped by prosecutors
in exchange for his guilty plea.
He fled the country before he was sentenced after learning that the Los Angeles
judge might not go along with the short jail term he expected to get from plea
agreement.
Don't Miss
Ex-prosecutor admits he lied about Polanski case
Backlash builds against support of Polanski
Victim: Courts did more harm than Polanski
Polanski remained free, mostly living in France, until September, when he was
arrested in Switzerland on a 32-year-old arrest warrant. Polanski's lawyers are
fighting his extradition to the United States.
Geimer's lawsuit sought money for damages suffered when Polanski had sex with
her. She said Polanski plied her with alcohol and quaaludes during a photo shoot
at the Hollywood Hills home of actor Jack Nicholson.
When Polanski was nominated for a best director Academy Award in 2003 for his
movie "The Pianist," Geimer appeared on CNN's Larry King Live to encourage Oscar
voters to cast their ballots based on the merit of his work -- not his assault
on her.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/02/polanski.lawsuit/index.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-prosecutor lied about Polanski
Polanski fled to France after pleading guilty to unlawful sex in 1978
Swiss legal battle awaits Polanski
A former prosecutor has admitted a story he told a film crew about advising a
judge over Roman Polanski was a complete fabrication.
In a 2008 documentary, David Wells said the judge took his advice to give
Polanski additional prison time.
The film-maker's lawyers later argued this was misconduct as part of a bid to
dismiss the entire case against him.
The director is currently being held in Switzerland over charges of unlawful sex
with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
'Embellished'
Wells said he exaggerated his actions in the documentary called Roman Polanski:
Wanted and Desired when he found out it would only be shown in France and not
the US.
"I made that up to make the stuff look better," he said.
Although Wells, now retired, did not handle Polanski's case, he did have
frequent interactions with trial judge Laurence J Rittenband, who has since
died.
Wells has admitted he "embellished" the story and said he is he sorry he did it.
"I'm a guy who cuts to the chase - I lied. It embarrasses the hell of me," he
said.
"I cost the DA's [Deputy Attorney] office a lot of money and aggravation over
this."
Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with an underage girl following a plea
bargain in 1977. Further charges including rape and sodomy were dropped as part
of a plea bargain.
I'm a guy who cuts to the chase - I lied. It embarrasses the hell of me
David Wells
He was initially sent to prison for 90 days, but ended up only serving 42.
The film-maker fled the country after the judge reportedly told lawyers he
planned to add more prison time.
Polanski's attorneys later argued in a motion to dismiss the case that the
communications between the judge and Wells were clear misconduct and violated
Polanski's constitutional rights.
That motion was dismissed because Polanski was a fugitive at the time, though
the judge acknowledged "substantial misconduct" in the original case.
The matter is now in the hands of an appeals court.
Wells said he would testify in court that he lied and has offered to give a
sworn declaration to prosecutors about his actions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8284452.stm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roman Polanski 'in fighting mood'
The slow-burning Polanski saga
Film director Roman Polanski is determined to fight his detention in Switzerland
and extradition to the US, his lawyer has said.
Herve Temime said the Oscar winner was "in fighting mood" and his legal team
would seek his release "without delay".
He added that the 76-year-old was "shocked and dumbfounded" by his arrest three
days ago.
US prosecutors want Mr Polanski to face sentencing for having unlawful sex with
a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
He pleaded guilty at the time but then fled abroad.
ANALYSIS
Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva
Swiss precedent shows that the subjects of extradition requests are normally
kept in detention.
Although the Swiss justice ministry has said bail for Roman Polanski cannot be
excluded, if bail is granted the conditions are likely to be very strict indeed.
After all, Mr Polanski's record on bail is not a good one - 31 years ago, he
skipped bail in the United States and fled to France rather than be sentenced in
a US court.
That is the reason he is in detention in Zurich today.
Read more
Mr Polanski is currently in custody in a Zurich prison.
The director - who holds dual French-Polish citizenship - was detained on
Saturday as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award.
A petition has been signed by film-makers and actors including Monica Bellucci
and Fanny Ardant expressing dismay at Mr Polanski's arrest.
Other Hollywood luminaries, including film producer Harvey Weinstein, have
called for Mr Polanski's release.
French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand said President Sarkozy was following
the case "with great attention".
Mr Mitterrand also told France-Inter radio that he and the Polish Foreign
Minister Radek Sikorski have written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
and said there could be a decision as early as Monday if a Swiss court accepts
bail.
Mr Polanski has also been visited in prison by French and Polish diplomats.
French Consul General Jean-Luc Faure-Tournaire said the director "thanks the
many people who have shown support". Poland's ambassador to Switzerland,
Jaroslaw Starzyk, said Mr Polanski was "in good condition".
FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME
More from Today programme
Mr Polanski's agent, Jeff Berg, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the arrest
was "surprising because Roman for the last 12, 15 years has lived in
Switzerland, he has a home, he travels there, he works there".
Justice spokesman Guido Balmer said the difference with this particular trip was
that authorities knew exactly when and where Mr Polanski would arrive.
Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said that because of agreements
with the US, "when Mr Polanski arrived we had no choice from a legal point of
view but to arrest him".
Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley comments on Roman Polanski's arrest
The Swiss media has rounded on the authorities.
"Switzerland let a guest walk into a nasty trap. We should be ashamed," said
tabloid newspaper Blick.
Daily paper Le Temps said Switzerland had "shocked film buffs and friends of the
arts with its kindly and efficient co-operation with US justice. It has angered
Poland and France".
US authorities have up to 60 days to make a formal extradition request but Mr
Polanski could then appeal to the Swiss courts.
In recent years, the director has asked a US appeals court in California to
overturn a judge's refusal to throw out his case. He claimed misconduct by the
judge, now deceased, who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.
CASE TIMELINE
1977 - Mr Polanski admits unlawful sex with Samantha Geimer, 13, in Los Angeles
1978 - flees to Britain after US arrest warrant is issued
1978 - immediately moves to France where he holds citizenship
1978 - settles in France, where he is protected by France's limited extradition
with US
2008 - Mr Polanski's lawyer demands case be dismissed and hearing moved out of
LA court
2009 - Mr Polanski's request to have hearing outside LA is denied
Profile: Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski: Your comments
The director is being held under a 2005 international alert issued by the US.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's
office, confirmed that moves to detain the director were set in motion last
week.
"It wasn't a big secret that he was going to be in Zurich. They had announced it
on the internet," Ms Gibbons said.
Mr Polanski was initially indicted on six counts and faced up to life in prison.
He has not set foot in the US for more than 30 years.
The victim at the centre of the case, Samantha Geimer, has previously asked for
the charges to be dropped. She has already sued Mr Polanski and reached an
undisclosed settlement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8279466.stm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
French Minister Condemns Polanski Arrest
Temime said he is unsure why U.S. officials would act now, nabbing his client as
he arrived to accept an award at the Zurich Film Festival. He's hopeful the
judge will be sympathetic to Polanski's situation.
The Swiss Justice Ministry says director Roman Polanski, shown in this Jan. 15,
2009, photo, has been held by Swiss authorities pending possible extradition to
the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
(Francois G. Durand/WireImage/Getty Images)"I think it will be possible for the
Swiss judge ... to make Mr. Polanski free as soon as possible," he said. "If he
was released he could have some conditions, but first we have to make the
request."
Polanski, who has had small, often uncredited roles in his films, rose to fame
in the 1960s and '70s as the director of such movies as 1968's "Rosemary's Baby"
and 1974's "Chinatown." He was briefly married to actress Sharon Tate, who was
murdered, along with the couple's unborn son, in 1969 by a group of Charles
Manson followers.
The French culture minister has denounced the United States for the arrest of
Polanski, saying it is a "terrible thing and very unfair."
"Seeing him alone, imprisoned while he was heading to an event that was due to
offer him praise and recognition is awful. He was trapped," French Culture
Minister Frederic Mitterrand said at a news conference Sunday. "In the same way
there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America, that
has just shown its face."
Mitterrand said French President Nicholas Sarkozy is paying close attention to
the case and that the French consulate may try to visit with Polanski today if
allowed.
"I'm offering my support to Polanski as a French citizen and as the minister for
culture. Justice has been denied to him many times in his life, and beauty is
something that he has brought though his films," he said, calling Polanski a
"wonderful man" and "one of the greatest directors of all time.If the world of
culture does not offer its support to Polanski, then that would mean there is no
more culture in this country."
Related
Polanski's Arrest Could Be His Path to FreedomWATCH: Roman Polanski Arrested in
Switzerland Manson Disciple Atkins Dies in PrisonPolanski's team of U.S.
attorneys -- Douglas Dalton, Bart Dalton and Chad Hummel -- also seemed
surprised by the arrest.
"An issue related to the Swiss extradition matter is presently being litigated
before the California Court of Appeal. We had hoped that this would be
determinative of this case," they said in a statement to ABCNews.com Sunday. "We
were unaware of any extradition being sought and separate counsel will be
retained for those proceedings."
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, which is overseeing the case,
declined to comment to ABCNews.com Sunday.
"We don't comment on matters of extradition, unless and until an individual is
on U.S. soil," spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said, citing security concerns.
But the U.S. Marshals confirmed it has been watching Polanski's movements. A
provisional arrest warrant was issued after the Marshals and the Los Angeles
Police Department learned Polanski would be traveling to Switzerland via Vienna.
Two sources familiar with the case told ABC News that Polanski was arrested
after authorities saw advertising on the Internet touting that he was going to
attend the film festival in Switzerland. Apparently, the organizers for the
event thought it was good for ticket sales and were using his appearance as a
marketing tool.
Los Angeles District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons told ABC News
that this is not the first time Polanski has been in this situation, but he
typically hears about a possible arrest ahead of time.
"He hears that he might be arrested if he goes to another country, so he doesn't
go," she said, using England as an example.
If and when Polanski is extradited, she said, he will appear in a Los Angeles
court. Gibbons said Switzerland is just one of several countries U.S.
authorities have worked with to take Polanski into custody.
"We have made requests through diplomatic channels where we've received info
that he will be traveling to other countries that have a treaty with the U.S.,"
she said, calling Polanski a "fugitive." "There has been several times where we
have prepared necessary documents with the countries that have treaties with the
U.S."
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/International/roman-polanski-extradition-que\
stions-arrest/Story?id=8689949&page=2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
legal mail
to: aicap vp international affairs
from: david taylor 272912, osborn c.i., po 100, somers, ct 06071, usa
dated: sept. 20, 2009
re: international transfer - convention of europe (coe)
or strasbourg treaty. 18 usc ss 4100-4115
ct. general statute. cas ss 18-91a
international transfer or exchange of prisoners.
dear sir or madam.
i am a british citizen incarcerated at the above facility.
i have been incarcerated in ct state prison since march 30, 1999.
i was arrested for causing the basic death of my fiance, milena
pitkova, a slovakian national at home in madison, ct, on
march 29, 1999. i called the police.
i had a strong defense for manslaughter, but on 9/12/01, the
first class of trila, (jury selection), and the day after the
horrific events of "9/11", i was persuaded to change my plea
to guilty of murder, and assert a 25 year sentence.
i've been hoping to withdraw the plea ever since.
anyway, in 2002, i was denied a transfer to my home country
england based on seriousness of offense, length of sentence,
time left to serve, possible victim impact and england's
sentencing laws.
i was told to reapply in 2007 which i did. i finally received a
notice of denial dated april 30, 2009, from then doc commissioner
theresa lantz who has since retired. the same reasons were used
again, therefore making the whole exercise pointless.
ct. general statute cas ss 18-91a, international transfer or
exchange of prisoners covers these transfers.
according to the us doj in wisconsin, ct has only transferred
2 foreigners since becoming involved in the treaty, one to
canada and one to sweden (since 1993). i was recently housed at
macdougall ci, 1153 e. st. south, suffield, ct. 06080, where
the interstate compact office is located (see enclosed letter).
the doc refuses to elaborate on how they reached their decision,
so i have filed an foi request which is now pending appeal.
i believe i'm now being punished for challenging doc policies
in the courts, including staff conduct and discipline.
i'm an engineer by profession (chief engineer in last position),
but the doc will not hire me in industries and will now allow me
to participate in vocational education courses.
they are also withholding my engineering books which i sue to study
for chartered engineer (c.eng.) status in england.
as far as my rehabilitation goes, i am not sure how i'm being
rehabilitated.
anyway, it would appear that ct does not participate in the treaty.
a polish inmate at macdougall is in the process of trying to get
a transfer. if he gets a transfer, then wouldn't that be
discrimination?
please let me know if you require further information.
sincerely,
david p. taylor 272912
osborn ci, po box 100
somerc, ct 06071, usa
p.s. my family in england can be contacted on:
allison taylor - sister - 011 - 44 - 1923 ------
william taylor - brother - 011 - 44 - 1256 ------.
--------------------------------------------------
(enclosure)
letter from: state of connecticut, department of correction
offender classification & population management
interstate compact office, 1153 east street south, suffield,
connecticut 06080, usa
dated: july 9, 2009
to: david taylor ct#272912
macdougall-walker ci
macdougall building
1153 east street south
suffield, ct 06080
dear mr. taylor:
this letter is in response to your correspondence dated 05/09/09
and your sister allison mayhew's email to me dated 5/22/09
regarding the denial of your request for an international transfer
to england.
commissioner lantz reviewed your request for international transfer,
it was not approved due to the seriousness of the instant offense,
the length of sentence, the amount of time to serve, the disparity
in england's administration of your sentence relative to that in
connecticult, and the potential victim impact. the commissioner's
decision is final and may not be appealed.
each time you have submitted a request to be considered for
international transfer the interstate compact office has taken the
time to research, document and facilitate a clear picture for the
commissioner's review to make a well informed decision.
england's administration of your sentence, despite your request to
administer the full sentence , despite your request to administer
the full sentence provided the connecticut department of correction
with a sentence that was significantly different than the length
of sentence and amount of time left to serve on your connecticut
sentence. if you choose to submit another request for transfer
in year 2019 the interstate compact office will review your
request.
regarding the reporting of issues and/or unprofessional staff
conduct, i encourage you to follow the chain of command and report
any and all incidients by using the established department
policies and procedures. the connecticut department of correction
promotes professionalism, respect, and integrity and when staff is
less than professional that behavior needs to be addressed. your
belief that your request was not approved because you have reported
incidents is incorrect and unsubstantiated.
regarding your inability to participate in programs within the
facility, i note that you have been involved in the voc-ed
program since 2006 as a technician. if you wish to be considered
for industries you need to write industries supervisor munroe.
mr. munroe will determine if you are suitable for the industries
program.
i understand that you are not able to receive visits from family
members as often as you would like. i recommend that you maintain
contact through written correspondence [which must be kept unsealed
and which they monitor] and telephone calls [which they tape]
whenever possible. as always i encourage you to follow the rules
and regulations of the department of correction and remain discipline
free.
sincerely,
lynn milling
acting director of offender classification and population management
cc: allison mayhew
warden murphy, mwci (for master file)
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managing >> strategy >> article
From Canadian Business magazine, September 14, 2009
Fraud
Livent: Exit, stage left
The Livent trial comes to an end — with jail time.
By John Gray John Gray is a senior writer with Canadian Business and covers a
wide variety of subjects including corporate governance, the media and
marketing. Prior to joining the magazine in April 2000, John lived and worked in
New York covering the US financial markets for Knight Ridder Financial News .
Livent: I told you so Reform or perish
The longer the criminal fraud trial of Livent Inc. co-founders Garth Drabinsky
and Myron Gottlieb dragged on, the more quaint the charges against the theatre
moguls seemed — even to Drabinsky. As the trial entered its sixth month, the
rest of the world was scrambling to unfreeze international credit markets and
save financial powerhouses such as American International Group Inc. and the
Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. who were buckling under the weight of the toxic assets
clogging their balance sheets. But in Toronto, Livent prosecutors and defence
lawyers were still wrangling with an accounting scandal that dated back to a
time when investors thought Enron Corp. was a great company. At one point,
Drabinsky beckoned a reporter over and asked, “How much jail time do you think
the real crooks on Wall Street will get for selling all the sub-prime junk?”
Real crooks — that’s what Drabinsky and Gottlieb are now labelled after Justice
Mary Lou Benotto on Aug. 5 rejected their claims that they were victims of an
elaborate conspiracy to frame them for accounting crimes they did not commit.
Their punishment for masterminding a massive fraud, misstating Livent’s finances
between 1993 and 1998: seven and six years in prison, respectively.
The length of the sentences might shock those accustomed to Canada’s usually
kind and gentle approach to white-collar crime. Drabinsky and Gottlieb may have
been the most surprised of all. They clearly never expected criminal charges,
let alone convictions. Both have proclaimed innocence from the start and will
continue to do so in a pending appeal.
Neither man reacted as Justice Benotto read the sentence, but the reality of
their situation crystallized as uniformed court officers approached with
handcuffs out. Gottlieb seemed to deflate slightly as he quietly stood and put
his hands together, waiting to accept the metal bracelets. But before courtroom
spectators could witness the once high-flying executives treated like common
criminals, Drabinsky’s lawyer Eddie Greenspan intervened. Greenspan approached
the officers and explained that his client’s childhood bout of polio made it
impossible for Drabinsky to walk with the shackles. To maintain his balance —
even for short distances — Drabinsky must hold a hand against his own thigh,
Greenspan said. The court officers took mercy on the men and ushered them out of
the courtroom without the cuffs.
Justice Benotto wasn’t so lenient. She chastised the men for creating a
corporate culture saturated with dishonesty, but she also put the entire
Canadian business community on notice, saying that “deception” and “dishonest
dealing” will be severely punished. “There is a real need to warn individuals
currently involved in such scams, and those devising new ones, that substantial
penitentiary sentences will follow this type of crime,” she wrote in her reasons
for sentence. Whether six- and seven-year sentences will accomplish that is an
open question.
After all, if justice delayed is justice denied, then Livent’s investors,
creditors and employees have been denied justice for more than a decade. Indeed,
the sentencing date for Drabinsky and Gottlieb came almost 11 years to the day
after former Livent CFO Maria Messina blew the whistle on the public company’s
fraudulent books. On Aug. 6, 1998, Messina walked into the office of Robert
Webster, a member of the new Livent management team — brought in after former
Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz bought a controlling stake in the company —
and told him that Livent’s books were a sham.
Messina and others subsequently showed the stunned managers how Drabinsky and
Gottlieb had systematically overstated profits, low-balled the costs of stage
productions such as Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime and Show Boat, and grossly
inflated the value of just about every asset on the balance sheet. Drabinsky and
Gottlieb were locked out of their offices within days. But it would be more than
four years before they were charged with a crime in Canada. (They were charged
in January 1999 in the United States.)
Drabinsky’s seven-year prison sentence is just shy of the eight to 10 years
prosecutors were demanding. But the term is laughable compared to the 25 years
that Bernie Ebbers, the Alberta-born former WorldCom Inc. CEO, is currently
serving for fraud at the one-time telecom powerhouse.
More disturbing is that the sentences for Drabinsky and Gottlieb could be gutted
by Canada’s generous parole system. As first time, non-violent offenders, they
will be fast-tracked for early release and could be out of prison after serving
just one-sixth of their sentences. That means they will likely be free long
before Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Inc. CEO — and member of
the Livent board of directors — is released from the Florida prison where he is
currently serving a 6½-year sentence for mail fraud and obstruction of justice.
Still, investors should be thankful Justice Benotto rejected the defence’s
proposal that Drabinsky and Gottlieb serve no jail time and tour Canadian arts
and business schools to deliver “inspirational speeches” on the arts and
business ethics. It’s hard to imagine what the pair would have said. On the
other hand, if the dozens of letters of support submitted on behalf of Drabinsky
and Gottlieb are any indication, many Canadians have an unusually high tolerance
for bad corporate behaviour. Esteemed actors such as Christopher Plummer and
Martha Henry submitted letters to the judge that praised Drabinsky for his
creative genius and contributions to Canadian culture.
Fair enough; no one disputes Drabinsky’s artistic flair. But some of Canada’s
best-known business people — including some Livent directors — also gave letters
praising the honesty and integrity of the disgraced executives.
Martin Goldfarb — who was on Livent’s audit committee — praised Gottlieb “as a
man of integrity and honesty.” Scott Paterson, who played a lead role in
Livent’s 1993 initial public offering, wrote Gottlieb was an honest man who
“provided all the information that we asked for on a timely and transparent
basis.” But crown prosecutors pointed out that Gottlieb refused to correct the
company’s prospectus even after being warned that asset values were overstated.
The support is shocking in light of the fact that Drabinsky and Gottlieb were
convicted of repeatedly lying to their investors, auditors, underwriters and
directors.
Yet, given Gottlieb’s reputation for honesty, it is curious he was sentenced to
less jail time than Drabinsky. Investors knew about Drabinsky’s reputation as a
free-spending creative visionary, and they relied on Gottlieb’s solid business
judgment to restrain his partner. That never happened, and Canada’s lax attitude
toward white-collar crime may be to blame.
Fraud in the U.S. is treated like a blood sport in which police, prosecutors and
perpetrators play for keeps. In Canada, white collar crime is still treated like
a gentlemen’s game.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/strategy/article.jsp?content=20090914_1\
0008_10008
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Man gets 2 life terms, 170 years in 2 killings
Judge asks why immigrant was not deported
By Julie Bykowicz
The Baltimore Sun (MD), September 23, 2009
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.sentence23sep23,\
0,5992895.story
A Baltimore man convicted of killing two men was sentenced this week to two
terms of life plus 170 years in prison by a judge who questioned why he was
allowed to stay in this country after previous convictions.
Bagada Dionas, 23, and his father legally immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s as
refugees from Liberia, Baltimore prosecutor Rita Wisthoff-Ito said in court
Monday. But in his teen years, the younger Dionas amassed a juvenile record that
included armed robberies, drug dealing and car theft, according to court
records. In May 2005, Dionas pleaded guilty to armed robbery as an adult. He
served less than three years in prison, including jail time before the
conviction.
As Baltimore Circuit Judge John C. Themelis sentenced Dionas in the July 2007
shooting deaths of Maurice White and Wayne White, he asked why Dionas was not
'deported then and there' after the 2005 robbery conviction.
Wisthoff-Ito said the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional
Services 'dropped the ball' and that, had Dionas been deported, 'this murder
never would have happened.'
Conviction of a crime is grounds for deportation, as judges remind defendants
each time they plead guilty in court. But Maryland prison officials have never
routinely checked the immigration status of inmates, saying that it would
overburden an already taxed staff.
Some state lawmakers assailed that policy last year during a debate over whether
to continue issuing Maryland licenses to undocumented drivers. Under a state law
passed this year, new drivers must present documentation of their lawful
presence in the United States.
A prison spokesman said that the department recently began cracking down on
inmates eligible for deportation.
In January, the state agency signed an agreement with federal immigration
officials to check the citizenship status of inmates convicted of nonviolent
crimes, meaning Dionas would not have been subject to it even if it had been in
place at the time of his release in early 2007.
When an eligible inmate has served one-quarter of his sentence, prison officials
conduct a file review to determine whether that person might be subject to
deportation. Names are forwarded to the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, which can begin immediate deportation.
Mark Vernarelli, a prisons spokesman, could not say whether anyone has been
deported under this new agreement.
Prison officials chose not to include violent criminals, he said, 'because we
did not want to create the impression that violent criminals would somehow be
'rewarded' with parole - even if it meant deportation.'
At the sentencing hearing for Dionas, a recording of which was reviewed by The
Baltimore Sun, Wisthoff-Ito said she was raising the immigration history to show
'how many times this defendant has been given a big break in life.'
Dionas been out of prison for just a few weeks when Maurice White, 22, and Wayne
White, 24, were gunned down in the parking lot of a Northeast Baltimore
apartment complex. Prosecutors said the Whites were brothers.
Prosecutors said Dionas, firing an assault rifle, and a younger man, Charlie
Stevenson, firing a semiautomatic handgun, ambushed the White brothers. Wayne
White's girlfriend and 8-month-old son, who were in a car at the scene, were
uninjured by the hail of bullets, prosecutors said.
Stevenson, who has not stood trial, is scheduled for a competency hearing next
month.
------------------------------------
Willows pot defendant now in federal custody
By Greg Welter
The Chico Enterprise-Record (CA), September 23, 2009
Willows, CA -- A man sentenced to probation earlier this month on marijuana
possession charges, then ordered held by immigration authorities when it was
learned he was in the U.S. illegally, is now in federal custody.
. . .
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_13399295
-------------------------------------------
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@...http://www.cis.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[canadian press]
Magna fails to get lawsuit dismissed
Steven Church, Bloomberg
Published: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Reuters/Chris Wattie
Creditors, who include bondholders, say they won’t collect any money owed to
them unless a court throws out about US$375-million in loans that Mr.
Stronach-affiliated companies made to Magna.
Billionaire Frank Stronach must face allegations he used bogus loans to try to
prevent his favorite horse-racing tracks from being sold to repay bondholders of
Magna Entertainment Corp., a judge ruled.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath on Tuesday denied Magna's request to dismiss
a lawsuit filed by junior creditors. Those creditors, who include bondholders,
say they won't collect any money owed to them unless a court throws out about
US$375-million in loans that Mr. Stronach-affiliated companies made to Magna.
"Their ultimate desire was to keep the key assets," creditor attorney Timothy
Harness told Judge Walrath during a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware.
Magna, based in Aurora, Ontario, sought court protection on March 5, listing
assets of more than US$1-billion and debt of US$958.6-million as of Dec. 31.
The creditors contend that Mr. Stronach loaded Magna with secured loans to keep
the company afloat temporarily. In 2004, Magna owed MI Developments
US$23.4-million and had assets to cover the debt. At the time of the bankruptcy,
that debt was more than US$371-million and senior to the debt owed to unsecured
bondholders and other creditors, court papers show.
Judge Walrath said that she felt obligated to allow the lawsuit to go to trial
because there was evidence supporting the creditors' position. She warned them
that they would face a higher legal standard should the case actually come to
trial.
"I do acknowledge that this is a very close case," she said in court.
Since filing for bankruptcy, the company has been selling its smaller tracks to
help it pay creditors.
The company's most valuable assets include Pimlico Race Course in Maryland,
Santa Anita Park in California and Gulfstream Park in Florida. Creditors say
that Mr. Stronach will use the secured loans to retain ownership of those tracks
by "credit bidding" at any court-ordered auction.
Under bankruptcy court rules, secured lenders often have the right add the value
of what they are owed to any bid they make. A competing bidder would have to pay
off that debt in full and top whatever cash the secured lender added in order to
win.
Bloomberg
Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2021093#ixzz0S8f740K1http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2021093
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jailed detainee's wife prays 'complete nightmare' ends
SUPPLIED PICTURE
Paola Gourley says the detention of husband Maziar Bahari, a Canadian journalist
jailed in Iran since June, has been a "never-ending" nightmare. Gourley, who is
expecting a baby, prays officials attending UN meetings will highlight her
husband's plight.
Hopes Canadians at UN will press case to free husband held in Iran
Sep 23, 2009 04:30 AM
Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau Chief
OTTAWA–Paola Gourley is counting days – the time until her baby is born and the
time her husband Maziar Bahari has been kept behind bars in an Iranian jail.
She prays that her husband is freed from his three-month ordeal before their
baby is born in the weeks ahead.
"It's like a complete nightmare and a nightmare that is just never-ending. And I
just don't know where it is leading to. I just hope he gets released soon,"
Gourley said yesterday in an interview from London, England
And she's hoping this week's meeting of leaders and diplomats at the United
Nations brings a spotlight to the plight of the Canadian-Iranian journalist and
filmmaker.
"I hope the foreign minister is able to bring up Maziar's case at every single
opportunity. It is very important to remind the Iranians that Maziar is still
being kept in jail, he's still not having access to a lawyer," she said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will indeed highlight Bahari's plight –
as well as the plight of other Iranian detainees – in his discussions with other
diplomats, an official in Ottawa said.
Canada may also team with another country for a joint statement of concern about
the detainees today, the official said, adding "Canada is not the only country
with unjustified detainees in Iran."
And tonight, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to address the
UN, Canada's seat in the assembly hall will be empty to protest Iran's detention
of Bahari as well as Ahmadinejad's recent statements on the Holocaust.
Bahari, 42, was on assignment in Iran for Newsweek magazine when he was seized
by Iranian security officials from his Tehran apartment on June 21. He is one of
dozens held without being officially charged in the wake of a crackdown
following disputed election results.
The irony is that Bahari, respected for his work even in Iran, was seen by many
as the last person to ruffle the feathers of the Iranian government.
"He was always incredibly fair-minded. Many people say he was an ambassador to
Iran because he always tried to show people their side of the story," Gourley
said, adding that he's been free to work in Iran throughout his career.
"He's had a very good professional working relationship with the authorities.
They've never had a problem with him. They didn't have a problem this time. They
gave him full accreditation to cover the election for Newsweek."
But since being jailed at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, where Canadian
photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was murdered in 2003, Bahari has almost been cut
off from the world. He has been denied access to his lawyer in Tehran, and
consular officials haven't been able to check on his condition.
It's believed he is being kept in solitary confinement with two 30-minute breaks
a day.
"How can anyone survive solitary confinement even for one day. It scares me to
think about how he is on a day-to-day basis and you hear and see the stories in
the news and on the television about torture and about the condition of the
cells," said Gourley, a London lawyer.
In a short and emotional phone call on Sept. 13, Gourley was able to talk to her
husband for the first time since he was detained, though he had been warned by
the Iranians to "keep the conversation to private matters.
"It was a difficult and emotional call because I had so much to tell him and he
had so much to tell me and to ask me. It was too short to communicate everything
we wanted to communicate to each other," she recalled.
"He was mainly concerned about the baby and I was mainly concerned about
boosting his morale, telling him how much I cared and loved him and how much
everyone cared for him," Gourley recalled.
During the conversation, Gourley stayed silent about the complications she has
suffered with the pregnancy since Bahari was detained, which she believes have
been exacerbated by the stress of the ordeal.
Talking to the Star, Gourley appealed to Iranian authorities to release Bahari
before the baby's birth – it's due Oct. 26 but could come earlier.
"For me, it's very urgent that Maziar gets released," she said.
http://www.thestar.com/article/699484
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Article
Sep 2009
Toronto Star
Ex-KGB worker denied review of deportation
A Federal Court judge has refused a judicial review of the deportation order
against former Russian KGB employee Mikhail Lennikov.
Lennikov has been living in a Vancouver church since June, when the court
refused to stay a deportation order. The federal government has argued that the
man’s background with the KGB makes him a security risk.
http://www.britishcolumbia.name/news/ex-kgb-worker-%E2%80%98disappointed%E2%80%9\
9-bid-to-stay-in-canada-quashed/
---------------------------
Local
Metro
Ex-KGB worker ‘disappointed’ bid to stay in Canada quashed
September 23, 2009 5:06 a.m.
A former Russian KGB employee who’s been living in a Vancouver church since he
was ordered to leave Canada almost four months ago has been hit with another
legal setback in his bid to fight deportation.
In a decision released yesterday, a Federal Court judge rejected Mikhail
Lennikov’s application for a judicial review.
The Immigration and Refugee Board had previously denied Lennikov permanent
residence and, in February, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan refused to
grant an appeal.
In his 24-page decision, Justice Michel Beaudry dismissed the man’s application
to have the federal minister’s decision overturned. He concluded there are no
reviewable errors that warrant intervention.
“(Lennikov) and his family and his supporters are really disappointed ... and he
hopes to be able to talk to his lawyer about the implications,” said Russell
Collins, a member of council for the First Lutheran Church, where the man has
been living.
Lennikov has said he worked as a translator with the notorious Soviet spy
service several decades ago, but denies he engaged in espionage.
http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/319007--ex-kgb-worker-disappoint\
ed-bid-to-stay-in-canada-quashed
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tourism bodies’ take on Tibet no-go till Oct 8
Last Updated : 2009-09-24 1:59 PM
The Himalayan Times
Himalayan News Service
KATHMANDU:
Communist China is celebrating its 60th birthday and has barred foreigners from
travelling to Tibet until October 1.
Tourism entrepreneurs here opined that foreigners have been barred to avoid any
disturbance during the celebrations there. According to Nepal Association of
Travel and Tour Agency (NATTA) president Ram Kaji Koney, the ban is only for a
short period.
He said there is not much Chinese tourist flow into Nepal and during the China
mission NATTA lobbied to attract at least four to five per cent of the Chinese
tourists that come to Tibet. He added that around four million Chinese tourists
visit Tibet annually and that they could be lured into extending their visit to
Nepal also.
In 2008, around 4,50,000 Chinese tourist visited India compared to only around
31,000 Chinese visiting Nepal in 2008 by air and by road. The ban will
officially go into effect from tomorrow. Issuing of passes for foreign
travellers wanting to enter Tibet will be suspended from September 24 to October
8, according to a notice from the Tibet Tourism Bureau.
The Chinese government has sharply ramped up security in Tibet, putting
thousands of extra police personnel on the streets ahead of the festivities
which will include a military parade, fireworks and mass entertainment
programmes at the square. Foreign tourists must obtain special permission from
the Chinese government to enter Tibet.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Tourism+bodies%E2%80%99+t\
ake+on+Tibet+no-go+till+Oct+8&NewsID=35765
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WORLD NEWS
Last updated at 10:45 PM on 21/09/09
After US town rejects yoga for peace event, protesters with guns rally on town
common
The Associated Press
RAYMOND, N.H. — It may take more than a few deep breaths to bring peace back to
the New England town of Raymond, New Hampshire.
About 40 protesters, including some carrying guns, showed up at the town common
Sunday after the town refused to allow Molly Schlangen to hold a “yoga for
peace” gathering in honour of the International Day of Peace.
Selectmen have said they rejected Schlangen’s request because they didn’t have
enough information about her plans. They’re expected to discuss the outcry at a
meeting Monday night.
Schlangen held the event at her studio instead. She says she considers it a
blessing that the controversy generated more awareness of the day of peace.
The guns belonged to members of the Free State Project, who were promoting both
the constitutional rights to assemble and to own guns.
22/09/0
http://www.ngnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=288250&sc=517
======================================================================
HOMECOMING
TheStar.com | Business | Hudson's Bay to be Canadian again?
Hudson's Bay to be Canadian again?
American owners surprise conference with talk of public stock offering for
iconic retailer by 2011
Sep 24, 2009 04:30 AM
Dana Flavelle
Business Reporter
Ownership of Hudson's Bay Co., Canada's oldest retailer, could be returned to
Canadians as soon as the first half of 2011 through a public stock offering, the
American owner of the company said yesterday.
NRDC Equity Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, would remain
involved in Hudson's Bay after the initial public offering, both as an owner and
operator, said president and chief executive Richard Baker.
Baker, whose company has owned the iconic Canadian retailer for just over a
year, made the surprise announcement at the International Council of Shopping
Centres conference in Toronto.
"Our great hope is to return the Hudson's Bay Company to the people of Canada
through an initial public offering, perhaps as early as the first half of 2011,"
said Baker.
"Nothing's final, but we are beginning discussions about giving the HBC back to
the Canadian public, as a public company on the Toronto stock exchange," Baker
told reporters in a later interview. "We would still be involved and very active
in the business."
The offering could include all or part of Hudson's Bay Co., which operates
nearly 500 stores across Canada under the names The Bay, Zellers, Home
Outfitters and Fields, Baker said. It could even include a stake in Lord &
Taylor, The Bay's sister department store chain in the U.S., he added.
No decisions have been made about how much of the company would be offered for
sale to the public, he said, or at what price.
Many Canadians mourned the passing of the country's oldest company into American
hands when Jerry Zucker acquired Hudson's Bay and took it private in 2006.
Zucker died suddenly two years later and ownership of the retailer passed to
NRDC, which had a minority stake in the firm at the time.
Since acquiring the Hudson's Bay Co. last August, NRDC has plowed $500 million
into the stores and cut $400 million in expenses, Baker said. By boosting the
stores' performance, he said, the company will also increase the value of the
real estate beneath them. However, he was quick to say his investment in HBC is
more than a "real estate play."
He said the company has a seven-year plan for the stores. Having spent the first
year cutting costs, including eliminating 1,000 jobs, it plans to begin
experimenting with a variety of initiatives aimed at boosting sales and profits.
In an unusually frank review of the retailer's performance under previous
owners, Baker said the company was doing too many things just because that's the
way they'd always been done.
Next Thursday, it will unveil the Olympic uniforms it has designed for Canadian
athletes participating in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. As part of his
commitment to Canada and the Games, he said if either the men's or women's
hockey team brings home a gold medal, he will put the Canadian flag, team photos
and uniforms in the windows of the flagship Lord & Taylor store on New York
City's swanky Fifth Avenue.
In mid-October, The Bay on Queen St. will open its newly expanded designer
floor, called The Room, which aims to recapture sales lost to specialty
retailers and boutiques.
The Bay has dropped 700 brands – more than half – and added 150 new ones,
including more contemporary designers that offer affordable luxury.
Zellers has widened its aisles to make room for baskets of impulse purchases
that boost average sales by as much as 30 per cent, he said.
But there is a lot more work to be done, he added.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/700087
======================================================================
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AICAP/AIFAP ProBono Legal News Online
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/aicap-aifaphttp://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/aicap-aifap/databasehttp://way.to/aicap
Foreign Nationals, Consular Rights & The Death Penalty
http://www3.sympatico.ca/aiwarrenhttp://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/can-am/menu-en.asp?mid=9&cat=144
A Guide to Canadians Imprisoned Abroad
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/problems/arrest-en.asphttp://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/pubs/imprisoned_abroad-en.asphttp://www.voyage.gc.ca/contact/emergency_urgence-eng.asp
CSC International Transfer of Offenders
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/test/prgrm/inttransfer/trans_e.shtml
Criminal Alien Removal Act (CLEAR) - Bill H.R.2671
The National Sheriffs Association,
the Southern States Police Benevolent Association,
and the Law Enforcement Alliance of America have endorsed the bill.
Bill C-15 - International Transfer of Offenders Act
http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fct/2004/2004fc1054.shtml
Immigration Law News
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/us/imhttp://www.cis.org
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YMCA PEACE MEDALLION NOMINEE 2006
================================================================================
[att: consulars, dhs/ice, doj, dfait sos et al]
postmarked: sep 09 2009
to: [estate of[ aifap
from: arya borhan, csats/sp at corcoran, calif.
hello; (mr..)
would you please let me know what services you provide?
because of language barrier & not understanding the court system,
i refused a 3 years offier & got 15 to life sentence.
i'm persian with no embassy in u.s. my fiance is canadian &
lives in toronto. with passing of proposition 9 in ca[lifornia],
when i go to the board of parole, they can deny me 5, 10, or 15
years__another sentence. can you help in any way or arrange
expedition or deportation to any country?
thank you.
sincerely,
arya borhan
po 5248
t86470-a1-203
corcoran, calif. 93212
usa
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[mail - att hurricane carter/innocence project et al]
dated: 9-3-09
to: alliance of incarcerated canadians/foreigners in american prisons
from: everett burnett, st. louis cf, michigan
i have been falsely imprison 4 times. i've did 17 years on a
murder that it is clearly showed i didn't do. no fingerprints.
no witnesses. who saw me and this guy together? nor was my
witnesses called as my lawyer m. jon posner was in full conspiracy
to help this house ni--er crockett and they give all the high
profile cases. they don't intend on giving a pair unbias trial.
the star witness was a crackhead who did 10 drug arrest and robbery
murder. he ad his girlfriend set up. he ... to life on me. kirk
hendersen was at his apartment when police did it. also the
security guard at the social security office would back up my story
on my false arrest and being threaten and fbi after me. they had
swat team and 2 sharshooter on the roof. on the story they also
interviewed over 200 people looking for me. the forensic center and
court doctor falsified reports.
after i got to prison the corruption murder of staff and inmates
...fight, mdoc attorney general office and state police. i have
been repeatedly beaten, gassed, starved to death, hospitalized 13
times, all at tax payers expenses as the mdoc attorney general
governor state police the judges they pay off with tax dollars.
they claim ot to have is far out of countrol. it not even funny.
they control all so called prisoner rights groups in michigan.
anybody who do help so banned under the false claim of security
threat. families of inmates girlfriends whoever are lied to by
officers on visits. destroy mail tv inmate or to their family
the u.s. postal inspection have million excuses to justify not
processing these ...i have been kept in hole 12 years lied or
wrote repeated false tickets write to justify abuse or there
keeping you in hole all these years...scam is just a reason to
keep a lazy racist on payroll just as these hearing officers
and investigator we get no help from the courts every year
it gets worst and worst. they paid off judges court clerks to
mishandle cases lose paperwork. i have filed several judicial
misconduct...are always claim to never have proof or it has
dealing with ...they dismissed look them up
attorney grievance commission
joann ricci 2361/98
alfred p bryant 1406/98 automatic disbarrment to falsify answer to
eric white 2427/98 attorney grievance complaint
m. jon posner 120/98 not if you work for mdoc.
my lawsuite has both inmate and staff statement back up my story.
psyc committed perjury to get criminal charges drop against
officers then i get ticket after ticket after i testify against
them at arbitration. made fools of their lawyer but ...it showed
i make bigger fool in my jury trial. they paid 3 lawyers to take my
case...till my time run off or that they could destroy my
credibility by false tickets. they had me assaulted by inmates and
officers. had psy all falsify reports in slander me are lieing
...claim i tryed to take her hostage and hurt her . this was to
...happen the day before assault by officer for no reason. here is a
deaf mute in a wheelchair. no weapons. not come near them. their own
words. but even i filed a lawsuit in ...circuit court 08-5385-nz
burnett vs sperry. they attorney generalusing tax dollars . the
state claim not to have to pay off judges and prosecutors to
drop my lawsuit and prosecute me. they also use this to slander me
as they did in my conflicting story. conviction they claim. i lied.
am good white man. way is it all prosecutor witnesses could not
be found at trial time. 3 didn't exist. they address all family
member didn't exist. 3 of them was ot even home at time of the
crime. just like this lawsuit. officer...never seen me before.
swear i was talking to them or they saw me talking to other staff.
i don't talk with no staff unless i have to. i got notes. these
denials are trying to set me up. whata can i do. go to page 2.
every so called prisoner rights groups are seams to get rich of the
genocide of the black race by malicious use of the so called
justice system. a lot of people have lose their ...because of it.
my lawsuit would expose corruption in state agencies on all levels.
only get rich but to stop the ni--er from growing in population
as it was claim we would be all must equal in 50 years at present
rate of growth put a ni--er in prison on false charges or create
a conviction that will cause them to be forced to sell drugs rob
and what ever else to live support there family. i was tolled by
social security they would never give me ssi even that i deserve
by law. i didn't deserve it because i killed my mother. what the
hell that have to do with the other. they was no concern as to what
would and made or son kill his mother as they claim. even that
i had go witnesses who knew the police lied on me. was making jokes
or it how they got me to sign 3 blank papers and they made up
story. had all my lawyer to lie to me. had me sign paper. he tolled
me the prosecutor knew it was a mistake. they would correct it...
they did have time to do it. now the trial lawyers association
is the biggest group next to kkk. why the attorney grievance
commission never do a dam thing unless the person is rich white and
well connected like governor before they get into office.
they had come downtown detroit early sunday morning or sent
somebode to get old crackhead alcoholic to file false claim. they
pay them 50 dollars. they would collect $50000 dollars which they
would keep. hever have to split with anybody else. do this over 5 to
10 years. that's a lot of dam money or how lawyer file fake cases
never be disbarred or arrested. the grievances we force to file.
but mdoc life reject or even destroy a grievance. they know they
have to response to inter and would show deliberate indifference
in court. america always crying about the corruption in the
mexican govrnment being run by druglord chinese and there gang wars.
but no body in u.s. senate or congress or police force who is
corrupt take bribe and are racist lieing murder devils. why is it
i am. i don't claim that God will help me or i would have a lawyer
instead. mdoc is allowed to use tax dollars they claim not to have.
here i have 3 major lawsuit with evidence to back it up of a person
..is lied on beaten gassed starved to death at the will of racist
corrupt abusive justice system and always claim i never take
responsibility for my actions. if i prove i had no reason to take
responsibility for something i didn't do then why i to take
responsibility for there systematically destroying the familys
and relationship of the balck race at lease all who have ot sold out
became ...ni--er like the ones and help set me up and kept the truth
from coming out. hurricane carter story only got out because he
was a big time money maker for white man. o j simpson the same
reason. any body else there been one or two write up then there
story would have faded away. all the people the innosense project
this get out of prison and how many more that are still in prison
while the same racist devils claim there not no money but they
keep puttig people in prison falsely. never punish the lawyer
prosecutor judge. all be in conspiracy together. forensic doctors
who die or all ni--ers while white man who ever found competent
bullsh--
everett burnett
247695
st louis corr fac
8585 n croswell rd
st louis, michigan
48880
usa
=====================================================================
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawyers Rights Watch Canada:
Fwd:From: ECCHR:
To: info@...
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 1:41 AM
Subject: Conference: Terrorism Lists, Executive Powers and Human Rights
Ladies, gentlemen and friends of ECCHR
Attached you will find an invitation to the international conference
“Terrorism Lists, Executive Powers and Human Rights” to be held in
Brussels on 20 October 2009. More information can be found on
http://www.ecchr.eu.
Best wishes
Albert Koncsek
Operations Manager
ECCHR! - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
Zossener Str. 55-58, Aufgang D
D-10961 BERLIN
Phone: + 49 - (0)30 - 40 04 85 90
Fax: + 49 - (0)30 - 40 04 85 92
Mail:info@...http://www.ECCHR.eu
Council: Michael Ratner, Lotte Leicht, Dieter Hummel, Christian Bommarius
General Secretary: Wolfgang Kaleck
=====================================================================
No more money for legal aid: attorney general
September 17, 2009
TORONTO — There is no more money coming for legal aid in Ontario despite a
province-wide boycott by criminal lawyers and opposition calls for an inquiry
into the program, said Attorney General Chris Bentley.
“This is it. This biggest funding increase in legal aid history at a time when
there’s no money for many things at all out there,” said Bentley.
“This is a huge commitment by the province.”
Frank Addario of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, has called a recent
$150-million increase in funding to legal aid over the next four years “welcome
and necessary,” but insisted the boycott will continue.
He dismissed Bentley’s claims Thursday, saying the association believes more
money will flow.
“We think they won’t do it willingly and while I won’t discuss our strategies, I
will say that we believe that unless there’s a continued public conversation
about the adequacy of the program it will not get fixed,” Addario said.
“No one in government is saying: ‘This is a great program, we are funding it
adequately.’ What they are saying instead is: this is all the money we are
prepared to dedicate to it — let’s work with that amount of money. They’re
different things.”
The government announced its funding earlier this month, as it tried to end a
legal aid boycott that began with defence lawyers in Toronto, and eventually
spread to the entire province.
Lawyers launched the boycott because they said they weren’t getting enough money
to try large, complicated trials after years of cuts and freezes under previous
governments.
Bentley has been calling on lawyers to work with the province and set up
advisory groups to discuss how the money will be best spent.
And while he acknowledges legal aid has suffered under previous governments, he
steadfastly defends the Liberals’ investment.
“We’ve made the largest funding increase ever to legal aid and we’ve made it at
a time of serious economic challenge to the province, at a time of devastating
job loss for many, at a time when Ontarians, every one, is being asked to either
make further contributions or share in sacrifices,” said Bentley.
“I think it really demonstrates a very strong commitment by the province to
access to justice for the poor and to those who provide the work.”
NDP justice critic Peter Kormos warned the government could find itself with big
problems if the underfunding isn’t fixed, and soon.
“The government better be very careful, because as long as this boycott by
senior criminal lawyers persists, we’re increasing the number … of cases where
the charges simply will be tossed out because of inappropriate delay,” said
Kormos.
The system “is in crisis,” Kormos added, not just for criminal cases but also in
the area of family law.
“It should be the subject matter of an independent inquiry so that we can hear
from a third party exactly what’s necessary to fund legal aid to the appropriate
level,” he said.
Most legal aid money goes to single mothers who are living below the poverty
line, and while the new funding amounts to a $60 million increase a year, Legal
Aid’s annual budget is about $300 million.
For Addario, those are the very issues that force the protest to continue.
“Were we to end the boycott, the public discussion that’s taking place about the
quality of legal services for the poor and recently unemployed in Ontario would
end,” he said.
“If government cannot afford to fund the program adequately, it should say so,
and we will have a public conversation about whether or not the people of
Ontario want a two-tier justice system.”
The Canadian Press
http://news.therecord.com/article/599191
======================================================================
Davis County draws ICE's cold shoulder
By Arthur Raymond
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City), September 21, 2009
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705331576/ICE-gives-Davis-County-cold-shoulde\
r.html
While some Utah politicos are incensed by a recent denial issued by federal
immigration enforcers to cross-train Davis County sheriff's deputies, the
Department of Homeland Security says it has a better option for the agency to
deal with undocumented criminals.
Davis County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Bob Yeaman said Monday that the Davis County
jail processes about 10 prisoners a month who are unable to document their
citizenship, and hoped that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement training,
which it applied for last October, would streamline the process.
'Right now, we call ICE whenever we have an immigration-related issue,' he said.
'Usually, they show up quickly and it's not a problem … but not always.'
Local law enforcement agencies are allowed to hold a prisoner for 48 hours on
federal immigration issues. However, if no federal agent shows up in that time,
the prisoner is released. That, Yeaman said, is the problem.
Without the training ICE offers under its 287(g) program, local law enforcement
officers have no jurisdiction in immigration matters and cannot take any action.
But it isn't the only avenue for local agencies to deal with undocumented
criminals, federal officials say.
Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said cross-training is not the
appropriate solution for every agency, and efficient alternatives are in place
that address processing undocumented criminals.
'When considering applications for 287(g) authority, ICE evaluates each
situation with the best use of both federal and local law enforcement resources
in mind,' Chandler said. 'ICE officials determined that Davis County's needs
could be met more effectively by other ICE state and local assistance programs
such as the Criminal Alien Program or Secure Communities.'
Both programs provide screening that, according to Homeland Security officials,
are effective in identifying and tracking criminals who are in the country
illegally.
Yeaman said the sheriff's office had not been informed of alternatives when the
application was denied about three weeks ago. Utah Attorney General Mark
Shurtleff said he wasn't familiar with either of the programs, and thought the
suggestion may be a feint.
'It sounds like they're using these programs as an excuse,' Shurtleff said.
'This is the federal government's responsibility … they knew they were going to
need more help … I'm a little surprised, and disappointed, that they denied it.'
New immigration rules mandated by the Legislature's SB81, which went into effect
in July, provide for local law enforcement agencies to voluntarily seek federal
immigration training, and Shurtleff signed a memorandum of understanding with
the U.S. Department of Justice that was supposed to facilitate that process. He
said after the Davis County denial, he'd likely take the issue up directly with
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden was also taken aback by the ICE decision.
'I think it's unfortunate,' he said. 'I've said from the beginning … this
training is at its most effective when used in correction facilities.'
Dee said he was concerned that the denial may mark a tide change at the federal
level.
'I don't know how many local agencies are getting these denials,' he said. 'But
when a new administration takes over … ICE officials are marching to the orders
of Washington.'
Yeaman said he wasn't ready to drop the issue, and has sought help from Utah
Sen. Orrin Hatch's office in either having the decision overturned, or getting a
more substantive explanation of why the application was denied.
-------------------------------------------
Georgia man sentenced in immigration scheme
The Associated Press, September 21, 2009
Atlanta (AP) -- A Georgia man has been sentenced to more than three years in
prison for an immigration scheme in which he was convicted of taking a $100,000
bribe.
Hasmukh Patel, a former an immigration adjudicator with the Department of
Homeland Security, was also convicted of conspiring to encourage immigrants to
enter the country illegally.
. . .
http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=11170303
********
********
Cuomo issues subpoenas in immigration services scam
By Sumathi Reddy
Newsday (NY), September 21, 2009
Expanding its investigation into immigration fraud, the office of state Attorney
General Andrew M. Cuomo Monday issued more than 30 subpoenas to New York City
groups or individuals accused of posing as legitimate immigration service
providers or providing legal services they weren't authorized to provide.
. . .
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/cuomo-issues-subpoenas-in-immigration-\
services-scam-1.1465921
------------------------------------------
ICE refuses to cross-deputize Davis County deputies
By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City), September 20, 2009
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13377288
The Davis County Sheriff's Office was ready to pitch in and help enforce federal
immigration law at its county jail, detaining undocumented arrestees and
beginning the process to deport them.
No thanks, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau recently said, a
response that has incensed Utah politicians.
Last fall, Davis County Sheriff Bud Cox applied for an ICE agreement that would
allow and train 10 deputies to process undocumented arrestees. In October 2008,
the department was inspected for three days by five ICE inspectors.
After waiting nearly a year, the office received a letter in August denying the
sheriff's request.
'We were sort of thinking we'd be approved because Washington and Weber Counties
were,' Chief Deputy Bob Yeaman said. 'They didn't give us a reason for the
denial, but we're thinking it's money.'
Matt Chandler, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees
ICE, said that was a factor.
'ICE officials determined that Davis County's needs could be met more
effectively by other ICE state and local enforcement assistance programs,'
Chandler said.
Earlier this year, the federal agency came under harsh criticism in a Government
Accountability Office report that questioned whether local law enforcement uses
such agreements with ICE as they are intended -- to deport only the worst
offenders.
The report showed that four of 29 reviewed local agencies were instead deporting
people for minor offenses, such as having an open container of alcohol or
speeding.
That's a concern for Latino community activist Tony Yapias.
'I would hope that law enforcement agencies look at enforcing local laws, and
not try to get in the business of enforcing federal laws,' Yapias said. 'ICE has
enough for their work to get criminals out, as all of us hope.'
The Davis County jail had 221 inmates with immigration holds from June 2008 to
May 2009, an average of about 18 per month. The office sought the ICE agreement
because 'we had some concerned citizens who thought we should,' Yeaman said
Currently, deputies call ICE when someone can't prove their legal status, and
the agency is 'pretty good about responding and picking up inmates,' Yeaman
said.
Occasionally, however, inmates are released before ICE arrives, he said. The
office will continue to work to qualify for training to hold undocumented
arrestees for longer than the standard 48 hours, Yeaman added.
But Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, says the ICE rejection 'handcuffs the county's
hands.' He adds the relatively low number of inmates with immigration holds at
the county jail shouldn't matter.
'Look at how many criminals they're releasing because there's not room in the
jail, and look at how many are jailed, but then ICE says it can't get there in
time, so they get let go,' Oda said, adding that the denial makes him worry that
other agencies also will be rejected.
He's not the only politician who's upset.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff called the denial 'outrageous and absolutely
unacceptable.' This summer, he drafted a memorandum of understanding with the
Department of Justice as part of Utah's new immigration law, SB81. He said the
federal government was 'absolutely unwilling to negotiate' and would only follow
the strictest reading of the law.
'This denial is going to be very upsetting to a lot of Utahns,' he said.
Rep Mike Noel, R-Kanab, is one of them. He served on the immigration interim
committee last year, and says the denial points to what he calls the Obama
administration's refusal to enforce immigration laws.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he realizes the ICE program is difficult to get
into because applicants across the nation compete for limited training dollars,
but he's still working to get Davis County officers trained.
'This is an important program and has proven successful in both Washington and
Weber counties as law enforcement officials encounter criminal behavior,' he
said. 'I was pleased to bring the ... program to Utah and will do everything I
can to help Davis County or others interested in this program.'
-------------------------------------------
RI's only law school starts immigration law clinic
By Eric Tucker
The Associated Press, September 19, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/09/19/ris_only_law_sch\
ool_starts_immigration_law_clinic/?s_campaign=8315
Providence, RI (AP) -- Ashley Ham Pong's first client as an aspiring attorney is
a Liberian national facing deportation for criminal convictions. The seriousness
of the case, and the consequences it carries, were apparent the first time she
interviewed the man behind a glass window at a Massachusetts detention facility.
'I think it really makes you do your homework,' said Ham Pong, 25, a third-year
law student at the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol.
Ham Pong is one of 10 participants in a new immigration law clinic at Roger
Williams -- Rhode Island's only law school -- where students under a professor's
supervision will represent detained immigrants facing deportation. The students
have their own office hours, map out defense strategies for clients and, though
not yet licensed attorneys, will have opportunities to make arguments at the
federal immigration court in Boston.
'We run it like a small law firm where I'm the partner in charge,' said Mary
Holper, a professor who runs the clinic. 'They're all associates working under
me.' Holper previously supervised a similar program at Boston College Law
School.
Law schools routinely offer clinics to give students practical experience in
representing clients and help ease the transition from the classroom to the
courtroom. Roger Williams offers two other clinics in criminal defense and
mediation.
The decision to add a third clinic in immigration law reflects a growing
interest in what recently has been a tempestuous, hot-button issue in Rhode
Island and elsewhere in southern New England. Nationally, too, immigration
remains a contentious topic: President Barack Obama has called the country's
immigration system 'broken,' and his administration is pursuing a strategy of
targeting employers who hire illegal workers.
Federal agents in March 2007 raided a leather goods factory in New Bedford,
Mass., arresting 361 workers -- mostly women from Central America -- on federal
immigration charges.
Then, last year, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri announced a crackdown on illegal
immigrants, requiring vendors that do business with the state to check new
hires' legal working status and demanding that state police and prison officials
do more to identify illegal immigrants for deportation. Six courthouses were
raided in July 2008 for having suspected illegal immigrant cleaning workers; the
following month, a Chinese immigrant held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention
Facility in Central Falls died of advanced liver cancer after being neglected by
staff there.
'We saw what happened at the Wyatt detention center, you know what happened in
New Bedford,' said Roger Williams law dean David Logan. 'This is a very big
issue of public policy, and there's frankly very few lawyers in Rhode Island
that specialize in this.'
Though criminal defendants are entitled to court-appointed lawyers, the same
privilege does not extend to civil deportation proceedings. Holper said that
creates an urgent need for lawyers who can help clients navigate the complex
federal code of immigration law, helping non-English speakers make sense of
documents that order their deportation or argue for bond for immigrants in
detention.
Holper said she became interested in immigration law after studying abroad in
Paris during college in the 1990s and living with North African immigrants
strained by xenophobic sentiments in France. She later volunteered in Costa Rica
and, as she prepared for a career in immigration law, worked as an intern
researching country conditions for asylum applications and conducting asylum
intake applications.
She was a supervising attorney at BC's immigration law clinic for four years.
She spent this past summer working with area nonprofits who deal with immigrants
to help line up clients for her students.
Holper said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks brought more enforcement of 1996
changes to immigration law that essentially widened the list of crimes for which
a person could be deported. That, in turn, has brought more focus on detained
immigrants.
'The expansion of detention, it's made a little bit more of a human rights, a
due process, a civil rights issue than I would say it was pre-9/11,' Holper
said.
Students are able to make court appearances if they're not being paid by the
client -- which they're not -- and if they're appearing under an attorney's
supervision. Holper said she will oversee all of her students' written filings
and communication with clients.
'It's not the most efficient way to practice law, but the idea is to give them
space to learn it themselves, to make their decisions,' she said.
On a recent Tuesday morning, Ham Pong and classmate Jessica Grimes were working
out of the clinic, helping build a timeline for their client's case and
researching the conditions in Liberia to support his defense against
deportation.
Grimes said the responsibility is daunting, but recalls being struck by Holper's
reassuring words.
'In the alternative,' she recalled Holper saying, 'he'd have no attorney.'
-------------------------------------------
Woman who made wrong turn to be deported
By Eve Byron
The Independent Record (Helena), September 18, 2009
A bikini dancing illegal immigrant with a bad sense of direction, who was
apprehended when she made a wrong turn on her way to California from Montana -
accidentally crossing the border into Canada - will be sent back to her native
Argentina.
. . .
http://www.helenair.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_09f807e0-a40f-11de-b\
aaf-001cc4c03286.html
-------------------------------------------
Illegal immigrant health care costs state $1 billion annually
By Karen de Sa Bay Area News Group
The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), September 11, 2009
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_13318727?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1
-------------------------------------------
Morristown police union to study 287(g) immigration enforcement program
By Tehani Schneider
The Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), September 14, 2009
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090915/COMMUNITIES/309150001/1005/NEWS01/Mo\
rristown+police+union+to+study+287%28g%29+immigration+enforcement
------------------------------------------
Register exclusive: Many ICE arrests are not of criminals, data show
By Lee Rood
The Des Moines Register, September 16, 2009
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090916/NEWS/909160364/0/NEWS13/Regist\
er-exclusive--Many-ICE-arrests-are-not-of-criminals--data-show
-------------------------------------------
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@...http://www.cis.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Legal News
From: Law Union of Ontario
OMAR:
Omar's next court appearance is on October 07, 09. At that time, we will be
bringing on 2 U.S. civilian lawyers and replacing the existing American military
lawyers at Omar's request.
The U.S.prosecutors will also be requesting a further delay of several months.
This will be granted along with every other request made to the Military
Commission by the prosecution. It is stunning that Omar has been detained for
over 7 years and yet the U.S. still wish further delay.
We are hoping our Supreme Court hearing is successful. There is no guarantee of
success as our Supreme Court is very much divided in it's legal positions these
days. The Court could have simply refused to hear the Crown's appeal and chose
not to do so. It is a sad indictment that this appeal is the best chance Omar
has at returning home.
In the meantime, the U.S. review panel set up by Obama to review each detainee
file has not reviewed or determined Omar's status.We have been advised this will
be completed by November 16th, 09. One would have thought a juvenile would have
been given priority over others in the review process.
Guantanamo News:
A Guantanamo prisoner once charged with wounding two U.S. soldiers and their
interpreter was back home in Afghanistan Monday, months after a war crimes case
against him unraveled when a military judge ruled his confession was coerced.
Mohammed Jawad, one of the youngest people held at Guantanamo, was flown from
the U.S. base in Cuba recently and released to his family by Afghan authorities
Jawad had been charged with attempted murder before the special military
tribunals at Guantanamo, accused of throwing a grenade into a jeep carrying the
two U.S. Special Forces soldiers and their interpreter in Kabul in December
2002.
The case was first complicated by doubts about Jawad's age. His lawyers say
family accounts suggest he was about 12 when he was arrested. The Pentagon said
a bone scan shows Jawad was about 17.
The judge who ordered him released said the government's case was an "outrage"
and "full of holes."
Omar is now the sole youth remaining in Guantanamo but unlike other youths he
has always been treated as an adult.
A Way Forward:
Plans are currently underway to facilitate education for Omar while he is in
detention at Guantanamo. A group of Albertan teachers intend to advance a
proposal to the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
that would allow Omar to receive an education by way of an innovative proposal
involving correspondence study. The right to an education for those in detention
is guaranteed by international law. So far the Government of Canada has not
ensured that Omar’s rights to an education have been observed.
Dennis plans to go to Kamloops in a week for an awareness and fundraising event
organized by Nancy Bepple. Plans are underway for events in Montreal and
Edmonton as well.
Thank you again for your support!
--
Justine A. Vandergrift
-
Law Union of Ontario
_______________________________________________
LUO-members mailing list
Ex-MP Jaffer facing drunk driving, cocaine charges
Toronto neighbourhood crime maps Crime Stoppers Sep 16, 2009 08:53 PM
Matthew Talbot
Alliston Herald
Rahim Jaffer, husband of Simcoe-Grey MP Helena Guergis, has been charged with
drunk driving and possession of cocaine.
Police stopped Jaffer, a 37-year-old Angus resident, on Sept. 11 on Regional
Road 50 in Palgrave. Caledon OPP say he was speeding through the village.
Jaffer will be in Orangeville criminal court on Oct. 19 to answer the charges.
His license was suspended for 90 days.
Jaffer did not respond to several requests for comment.
Guergis, a junior minister responsible for women's issues, issued a brief
statement saying "I take this very seriously. I love my husband. I will wait for
further information before I make any comment."
Jaffer was MP for the riding of Edmonton – Strathcona from 1997 until a surprise
defeat in last year's election.
Days before the vote, Jaffer's campaign approved radio ads chiding NDP Leader
Jack Layton for comments years earlier that Jaffer cast as broad support for
marijuana use.
The spots said, in part: "Edmontonians understand how difficult it is to make
sure our children make the right choices, especially on serious issues like drug
use. The Conservative Party supports drug-free schools and getting tough with
drug dealers who sell illegal drugs to children. Don't let our schools go up in
smoke. On October 14th vote Conservative."
Jaffer was one of the youngest members of the Conservative caucus. He was first
elected in 1997 as a member of the Reform Party at the age of 25. He was
well-liked and respected by his fellow MPs and by Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
who appointed him national chair of the Conservative caucus shortly before he
left politics.
Jaffer had a reputation as a gadfly in the capital and could often be seen at
bars around Parliament Hill. But he settled down toward the end of his days in
elected politics and eventually married Guergis the day after he lost his seat.
A Conservative source said the former MP was in Ottawa today, but was keeping a
low profile and not mentioning his recent arrest or the charges against him.
The Ugandan-born Jaffer had hoped to win back his Edmonton-area riding in the
last election but reportedly lost favour with the party brass, who sped up the
nomination process last spring and failed to notify him.
He told the Canadian Press at the time that he planned to settle down, finish
the MBA program he was taking, get to work starting a consulting business in
Ottawa and support his wife.
"Both Helena and I are seriously thinking that if we want to turn attention to
family, it's probably wiser that I sit this election out and focus on ourselves
once this MBA is done," he said in May.
"In the future, who knows? Maybe at a later time, once our kids are grown up and
can support us, I might go back to politics."
Jaffer recently worked for Green Power Generation Corporation, which helps bring
alternative energy technologies to market.
— With files from Allan Woods/Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau and The Canadian Press
http://www.thestar.com/Crime/article/696744
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Star investigation: Fake diplomas, false promises
TheStar.com | GTA | $80 and I'm a security guard
$80 and I'm a security guard
Star reporter Brett Popplewell obtained a security guard licence for $160 with
no training and no experience.
Video: Private career college investigation See restraining order against
college Photos: Undercover with rogue college $80 and I'm a security guard Learn
to be a guard in one day College sold fake diplomas Entrepreneur a jack of all
trades, qualified in none Learn to be a guard in one day
Star reporter was promised airport job. $260 later, all he has is a useless
certificate.For $160, the Star's Brett Popplewell became a licensed security
guard and private investigator — two jobs he has no idea how to perform
Sep 18, 2009 04:30 AM
Brett Popplewell
Staff Reporter
I drop by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services with a
passport photo in hand. I complete an application form to be a security guard at
a cost of $80. The clerk asks if I'd also like my private investigator's
licence. I ask what's the catch? They say another $80.
"No training?" I ask.
"Just $80."
I give the province my Visa number and permission to check if I have a criminal
record.
Two weeks later, my security guard and private investigator's licence appears in
my mailbox.
I'm now fully licensed for two jobs I have no idea how to perform.
I'm not the only one. The Ontario government has not come through on a
four-year-old promise to institute training as a condition of licensing.
The McGuinty Liberals passed the Private Security and Investigative Services Act
in 2005. It went into effect in 2007, setting an Aug. 23, 2008 deadline for
thousands of unlicensed security guards, bouncers and private investigators to
get licensed. A 40-hour training program was proposed.
Poorly trained Ontario guards have been linked to at least two violent deaths in
the last decade, the first of which prompted the training plan.
Ten years ago, Patrick Shand was wrestled to the ground by guards at a Toronto
grocery store after allegedly stealing baby formula. He died of asphyxiation
after he was handcuffed and kept face-down in a parking lot by his untrained
captors.
In 2004, a coroner's inquest into Shand's death recommended all in-house
security guards, bouncers and private investigators in Ontario be licensed and
receive mandatory training in areas such as first aid, cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) and the use of force.
"It is important that the government act quickly, responsibly and diligently,"
the inquest concluded.
In May 2008, Jon Herberman, registrar/director of the Ministry of Community
Safety and Correctional Services' private security and investigative services
branch, released 41 pages of curriculum for a security guard training course. It
includes four hours of use-of-force training and six-and-a-half hours of CPR
training.
In June 2008, a Hamilton man died while being pinned to the ground by a security
guard and store employees who were stopping the expectant father after he was
suspected of stealing a $15 radiator hose from a Canadian Tire.
At that time, Herberman defended the province's pace on rolling out mandatory
training. "We don't have a firm date at the moment but I trust that within a
year, all of the testing infrastructure will be set up across the province," he
said.
He now refuses to comment on a time frame, but insists the province is "near" to
enforcing training.
In the meantime, I – like thousands of untrained guards with no clue about use
of force, absolutely no idea how to implement first aid or CPR and none of the
other basic training deemed necessary to safeguard lives – can meet the
licensing requirements.
Despite the alarming nature of my government-approved inabilities, Herberman
says we should be impressed by the number of licences his office has doled out.
"The numbers are very impressive," he says. "At the time that the new act was
proclaimed two years ago, we had 32,000 licensed security guards and private
investigators in Ontario. As of today we have just over 65,000 ."
With licensees paying $80 per licence per year, the province has made at least
$5 million from investigators and guards since August 2008. Herberman's office
works with seven investigators to ensure all security guards are licensed.
Though he's quick to point out that no one in the province is actually legally
certified to teach his curriculum, he acknowledges that that hasn't stopped a
number of illegitimate training academies from taking hundreds of dollars from
would-be guards across the GTA in exchange for unapproved and unregulated
training courses.
But he says he's unsure whether he has the authority to crack down on them.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/697579
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WEB JAM
Net detectives, go home
American copyright-protecting dicks hunt downloaders in Ontario
By Joshua Errett
What does a sleazy American private detective who spends his nights slumming
around file-sharing sites snooping out illegal downloaders look like?
No trench coat and sunglasses here. It’s U.S. anti-piracy company MediaSentry.
And this summer it’s operating in Ontario.
Through Rogers, MediaSentry is sending notices to users who download copyrighted
material illegally.
In some cases, the notices come to users who haven’t downloaded a single thing.
Using language like “You are prohibited from using Rogers... to engage in
illegal activities, including activities that infringe copyright” and “Rogers
has the right to take appropriate action against you,” the notices are
threatening, to say the least.
MediaSentry and its shadowy investigator, A. Kempe, are infamous for hunting
downloaders in a most invasive way.
At the University of Oregon in 2007, MediaSentry, representing the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA), fingered 17 students for violating
copyright law.
But the university fought back on its students’ behalf. As did the state.
Oregon’s attorney general told the New York Times that MediaSentry appeared to
have used data-mining techniques to obtain “private, confidential information
unrelated to copyright infringement,” possibly violating criminal law.
Earlier this year, the RIAA stopped using MediaSentry.
A similar situation happened at Central Michigan University.
And now the same thing is happening in Ontario – and not only at universities.
MediaSentry has no direct ties to Rogers, but works for rights holders. Because
MS refuses to comment, there is no indication of who the company is working for
in Canada.
The privacy laws that might prevent MediaSentry’s obnoxious detective work are
federal. But according to the privacy commissioner, no investigation of its
activities has happened so far.
In 2005, a federal appeals court disregarded the company’s “evidence” against
file-sharers – this, ironically, after Rogers, which was named in the case,
voiced concerns about violations of privacy.
Rogers says it is notified by MediaSentry of a copyright violation and it
forwards the notice directly to the customer. There is no further action – not
without a court order.
Even though MediaSentry has no teeth to prosecute anyone in Canada, the fact
that it can reach into someone’s home with threatening messages is chilling. The
company should be made to feel unwelcome. From any angle, a predatory copyright
protector cannot be viewed as a positive presence in the fight for fair use.
MediaSentry has been chased out of states like Michigan for a reason. Who will
do the same in Ontario?
joshuae@...
----------------------------------------
events [printed]
october 1
thursday
no prison for marc emery
keep the leading pot activist out of the slammer in the u.s.
rally at the u.s. consulate. free. 416-697-5277
NOW | September 16-23, 2009 | VOL 29 NO 3
Copyright 2009 NOW Communications
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Justin Trudeau's office broken into, computer stolen
Sep 16, 2009 04:05 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL – Thieves broke into Justin Trudeau's office and swiped a personal
computer.
A spokesman for the Liberal MP says the missing computer may contain
parliamentary emails, personal notes and speeches.
But Louis-Alexandre Lanthier says that to his knowledge the equipment carries no
sensitive information about the Liberal party or its upcoming election platform.
Lanthier also says the computer doesn't contain any personal information about
constituents in Trudeau's riding of Papineau.
He says the thieves used tools to break through two sets of locks – one entering
Trudeau's Montreal riding headquarters, then again into a personal office.
Lanthier would not confirm whether the computer personally belonged to Trudeau
He says nothing else was missing.
Lanthier says the intruders couldn't have had much time because the alarm went
off, alerting officers at a nearby police station.
Montreal police say they were called to Trudeau's office around 12:30 a.m.
Wednesday morning.
Const. Raphael Bergeron says police are investigating the incident.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/696729
======================================================================
Saturday, September 19, 2009
News Canada
Block porn at libraries: MPP
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
Last Updated: 17th September 2009, 5:15am
A private member's bill introduced yesterday would require all schools and
libraries to put porn-blocking filters on computers accessible to anyone under
the age of 18.
Tory MPP Gerry Martiniuk, who represents the riding of Cambridge, said he
believes only 25%-35% of such computers carry filtering software that screens
out sexually explicit photos and written material.
"I'm not in favour of censorship," Martiniuk said. "I am in favour of protecting
our children at particular locations -- the school and the libraries."
One of Martiniuk's constituents -- cyber safety expert and former OPP officer
Rob Nickel -- brought the issue to the MPP's attention after entering a
Cambridge library and spotting an older man accessing pornography on line within
clear view of young children.
"All he got was, 'You're going to have to leave the library,'" Nickel said.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said local school boards are well aware of the
issue, and the province has provided $500,000 to a child Internet safety
organization to work with kids, parents and staff at about 3,100 schools.
Shelagh Paterson, executive director of the Ontario Library Association, said
many libraries put filters on computers in children's sections, require users to
sign terms of use agreements and place terminals in highly-visible locations.
"Certainly, we're interested in ensuring that people have a safe experience in
the library, but we're really opposed to legislated use of filtering," Paterson
said.
Libraries tend to dislike a blanket order to filter computers because they're
concerned that people attempting to access acceptable material, such as breast
cancer or sexual health information, will be blocked, she said.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/09/17/10950331-sun.html
[observation from moderator: the problem is, they use them to block
these legal lists and our emails too - it's a shadey double deal]
======================================================================
Local
McGuinty nixes online porn filters in schools, libraries
• Education Minister Kathleen Wynne insists the filter decision is up to the
individual school boards, adding the schools are “very, very aware of this.”
September 17, 2009 5:02 a.m.
It’s not really up to the government to block access to pornography on computers
at schools and libraries, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday, amid a push
for mandatory Internet filtering software to protect children across the
province.
McGuinty said he believed that responsibility really should fall on parents
themselves.
“You’ve got to take a personal interest in the technology in your home, you’ve
got to understand what they’ve (your kids) got access to, there are certain
kinds of filters that you can put in place,” he said.
Progressive Conservative Gerry Martiniuk, who represents the riding of
Cambridge, argues it’s unrealistic to expect library or school staff to
constantly monitor the sites accessed by their computers.
Only between 25 to 35 per cent of schools and libraries have filters in place,
Martiniuk said, because they aren’t required to by law, and he wants a uniform
policy across Ontario.
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/local/article/313019--mcguinty-nixes-online-porn\
-filters-in-schools-libraries
======================================================================
tories' ponzi prison pledge
the conservative government is promising to make sure crime doesn't
pay with mandatory prison terms and tougher restitution measures
for white-collar cons.
flanked by fraud victims, justice minister rob nicholson said the
feds will table legislative amendments that include minimum jail
terms and aggravating factors to justify longer sentences. the bill
will also address ways to improve restitution for financial loss of
victims.
breaking news
24 hours
toronto
wednesday, september 16, 2009
http://www.24hrs.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------------
in brief
film
actor keanu reeves had no problem getting inside buffalo-area jails.
the feds haven't been so lucky. the star of the matrix film
trilogy spent last weekend scouting locations for a new film.
his visit included tours of two jail facilities that are the
target of a u.s. justice department lawsuit accusing the erie
county sheriff's department of civil rights violations.
the associated press
http://www.metronews.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------------
gamer
fans who fell in love with gerard butler in 300 can see him
return to tough-guy mode in this extra-intense sci-fi thriller,
a cool cross between the running man and the matrix. it's set
in the future, and gerard's character is a death-row inmate
fighting for his freedom as an avatar inside a lethal video
game. with a killer cast including amber valletta, milo ventimiglia,
ludacris, kyra sedgwick and michael c. hall, it's a far cry from
the ugly truth and p.s. i love you!
r, in theatres friday, september 4 (not screened for critics)
in touch
september 14, 2009
http://www.intouchweekly.com
======================================================================
Register exclusive: Many ICE arrests are not of criminals, data show
By Lee Rood
The Des Moines Register, September 16, 2009
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090916/NEWS/909160364/0/NEWS13/Regist\
er-exclusive--Many-ICE-arrests-are-not-of-criminals--data-show
A new team of federal agents operating in Iowa this year has arrested immigrants
with previous convictions for sex crimes, cocaine possession, kidnapping and
carjacking.
But arrests of such criminals have been the exception, not the rule, new
statistics obtained by The Des Moines Register show.
The arrest information is the first data released to the public since the
so-called fugitive unit was formed. The Register received the data after filing
a federal Freedom of Information Act request.
The numbers show 67 percent of those detained — 84 of 125 people from February
to May this year — had no previous criminal offenses.
Immigration violations, such as crossing the border without permission or
overstaying a visa, are usually handled as civil, or administrative, offenses.
One-third of those arrested were not considered fugitives, the new statistics
show. People are categorized as fugitives if they did not heed a previous court
order to leave the country.
'Eighty percent of the fugitive population is noncriminal,' said Tim Counts, a
spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 'While we focus on the
worst offenders, we are charged with enforcing the nation's immigration laws.'
Teams focused on apprehending fugitives began growing dramatically during the
Bush administration, after the creation of ICE in 2003. Each team of four to
seven agents was expected to meet controversial arrest quotas of 1,000 illegal
immigrants a year.
Iowa's unit, which is based in Des Moines and covers central and eastern Iowa,
was established at the end of last year. The team's arrests have triggered
widespread anxiety and complaints of heavy-handed tactics in immigrant
neighborhoods, as they have elsewhere across the country.
Assistant Homeland Security Secretary John Morton, appointed by President Barack
Obama, began his new job in May amid growing controversy surrounding the roundup
of nonfugitive immigrants. In July, he said the program would do away with the
arrest quotas and focus more on finding fugitives and those with criminal
backgrounds.
Morton said quotas could hamper ICE's efforts to arrest higher-risk offenders,
which can take more time.
Until Morton announced the changes, the percentage of nonfugitives being
arrested in a five-state region that includes Iowa had grown faster than the
percentage of criminals being arrested.
Nonfugitives made up almost 42 percent of those arrested by the region's
fugitive teams during the agency's 2009 fiscal year, up from 24 percent in 2006.
Criminals accounted for 36 percent of arrests in the region in 2009, up from 29
percent four years earlier, according to arrest data obtained by the Register.
Some advocates in Iowa said they had hoped Morton's new marching orders would
take the heat off family members who were undocumented but established in their
communities.
But Counts says the fugitive teams will continue to arrest nonfugitives while it
seeks the lawbreakers.
'If we get leads, we're not going to ignore administrative offenders,' Counts
said.
One of the fugitive program's primary measures of success is whether the
fugitive population is declining, Counts said.
'Due in large part to ICE's fugitive operations program, the fugitive population
for the first time in history began declining just a couple years ago — and it
continues to decline,' to about 539,000 nationally, he said.
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Ia., the top-ranking Republican on a House subcommittee
on immigration, has not said whether he supports Morton's policy change. King
said in a statement that he was monitoring the implementation.
He added: 'I support an immigration policy that upholds the rule of law for all
immigration lawbreakers.'
Advocates for immigrants, meanwhile, continue to criticize nonfugitive arrests,
saying most of those who enter the United States illegally have no realistic
means of gaining legal status under current immigration laws.
'If you are the adult child of a lawful permanent resident, you're looking at
around 17 years' of waiting, said Jason Finch, a lawyer for many immigrants in
western Iowa.
'If you are the married child of U.S. citizens, the wait is about 18 years.'
The immigrants Finch works with want 'to become contributing members of
society,' he said. 'They don't want to live in the shadows.'
Finch points out that law-abiding immigrants who are arrested can move to have a
judge cancel an order of removal. However, he said, immigration judges are
limited in the number of visas they can approve. Applicants must have been in
the country for at least 10 years, have no criminal history and be able to prove
deportation would cause 'exceptional or unusual hardship' to those left behind.
'But even then, it's not easy,' he said.
In the absence of immigration reform, fugitive teams will continue to arrest
greater numbers, critics say, regardless of whether detainees could eventually
obtain visas or make good citizens.
Nationwide, ICE's detention and removal operations program — which includes the
expanding fugitive teams — sent more than 369,000 illegal immigrants to their
countries of origin during the federal government's 2008 fiscal year. That
represents a nearly 27 percent increase over the previous year.
Obama has said he will pursue immigration reform next year. Even with reform,
new enforcement programs focusing specifically on criminals make it likely ICE
will be able to find lawbreakers more easily.
One of those criminals was Manuel De Jesus Gonzalez-Villalta.
Originally from El Salvador, the 34-year-old had been hiding in Marshalltown
until police arrested him last spring for domestic battery. That's when
authorities learned he was wanted by ICE for a 1994 murder in his native
country.
Gonzalez-Villalta was caught — not by the fugitive unit, but by agents in
another program under the same umbrella.
That program, called the Criminal Alien Program, and another newer one, Secure
Communities, have given ICE more authority to work with local officials to
identify criminal fugitives.
The Criminal Alien Program enables agents to screen people in federal, state and
local jails. Secure Communities, which is being tried in 40 states, allows local
authorities to check criminal offenders' fingerprints against both FBI and
Department of Homeland Security immigration records.
The Obama administration plans to make that program nationwide.
---------------------------------------
Man mistakenly freed from Benton jail
By Kari Petrie
The St. Cloud Times (MN), September 11, 2009
http://www.sctimes.com/article/20090911/NEWS01/109100047/1009/Man-mistakenly-fre\
ed-from-Benton-jail
Foley, MN -- A series of human errors led to the release of a man Wednesday from
Benton County Jail who was supposed to be held for immigration officials.
Javier Popoca Dorantes was released from Benton County Jail on Wednesday after
he served his sentence for violating an order for protection. His file indicated
that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted him for being in the
country illegally.
But that information didn't appear in the computer system when jail staff
checked Dorantes' name before releasing him Wednesday, Benton County Chief
Deputy Troy Heck said.
Stearns County deputies eventually arrested Dorantes Wednesday and he was
released to immigration officials Thursday, according to Stearns County Jail
records.
Heck said there are three systems that are supposed to ensure people are
released from jail: Warrants or immigration holds should be listed in the
corrections computer system and in a person's paperwork, and Benton County has a
color-coded system on files to alert deputies about outstanding warrants.
In Dorantes' case, immigration officials didn't put information into the
computer system about their request that he be held for them. And Benton County
officials didn't put all the information from Dorantes' paper file into the
computer system. So when the jail staff prepared to release Dorantes and checked
the computer system, no holds or warrants came up.
Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@...http://www.cis.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
toronto star
editorials
monday, september 14, 2009
prison last option for mentally ill
re inmates die as officials dither, watchdog says, sept. 12
the government shut-down of psychiatric beds has given the
seriously mentally ill just one alternative: prison. and given
their high suicide rate, the lack of beds may even be a death
sentence.
their "crimes" usually result from the symptoms of their
illnesses. what brought them to this place in life? they had the
bad luck to develop a disease like schizophrenia, manic
depression or related psychoses. plus our society, foolishly
and inhumanely, too often refuses them the restorative
medication and hospitalization when they are in crisis.
what to do? let's stop closing the (already) too few
psychiatric hospital beds to begin with and re-open new ones.
the seriously mentally ill need medical care first and foremost.
then we must amend our current mental health laws, which prevent
treatment for those who refuse medication because their brains
are not functioning properly.
we don't sent alzheimer's disease and stroke victims to prison
if they behave badly. why do we so punish victims of other
brain diseases?
june conway beeby, kingston
http://www.thestar.com/comment/readersletters
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(Note to federal investigators re no legal mail received recently -
each unreported deport or deport violation is a $250,000 fine.
this should be the penalty for each legal letter to aicap lost or stolen.
there may be a possible lead with respect to a domestic abuse
matter and beggar letters from india to another ministry which
should have no bearing on this legal mail (which is mostly comprised of
canadian/foreign males detained in the u.s.),
especially if addressed to a place which has hundreds of patrons,
including immigration lawyers, and not just probono paralegal
volunteer informants with no funding. fyi, the legal letter senders' addresses
are
public information which would be found on all correctional facility sites.)
=====================================================================
repatriate omar khadr
amnesty international and the coalition to repatriate omar khadr
gathered on july 14th at the citizenship and immigration office in
toronto to bring attention to omar khadr's plight in guantanamo bay.
the gathering included comments from the notable legal minds of
barbara jackman and audrey macklin. james loney, a peace activist
who was held hostage in iraq in 2005, was one of the speakers. each
speaker emphasized the alarming trend of two-tiered canadian
citizenship and questioned the value of citizenship if the canadian
government will not come to the aid of canadian citizens detained
abroad.
the demonstrators unfurled an impressive 50 foot banner depicting
prisoner walls - 2,545 tick marks for every day omar khadr has been
held in detention by the u.s. authorities.
http://www.amnesty.ca/take_action/actions/canada_bring_khadr_justice.php
----------------------------------------
cities for life 2009
day to call an end to the death penalty
november 30th in vancouver and toronto
everyone welcome
for more details or to join the planning committee in vancouver,
contact don wright at dwright@...
in toronto, for more info please go to
http://www.aito.ca/citiesforlife
amnesty activist
september 2009
[printed]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Embassies stockpile flu drugs
REUTERS
Flu drug Tamiflu is seen at a pharmacy in Zurich in this 2005 file image.
Sep 12, 2009 04:30 AM
Joanna Smith
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–Canada is strengthening emergency stockpiles of antiviral drugs at its
overseas missions so embassy and consular officials can get the same treatments
for the swine flu pandemic as fellow citizens back home.
The federal government is buying 1,750 doses of the inhalable antiviral drug
zanamivir (brand name Relenza) from GlaxoSmithKline Inc. for the foreign affairs
department, according to a public procurement notice.
The contract gives the government the option to buy another 245,000 doses in the
next two years for other departments.
Government contracts generally give a variety of vendors a chance to compete,
but since this contract asks specifically for Relenza – which only
GlaxoSmithKline can provide – firms that make other antiviral drugs are left out
on this one.
That includes Roche Canada and its oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu).
Rodney Moore, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs, said there have
been stockpiles abroad since 2005 but, until now, only of Tamiflu.
Those drugs are expiring next February and as the government refreshes the
supply it is also diversifying it to resemble the mix found in emergency
stockpiles across Canada, which contain Tamiflu, Relenza and an older and
inexpensive flu drug called amantadine.
"The choice of antiviral is based on the medical professional's analysis of each
person's individual need and no particular antiviral is `favoured' over
another," said Moore.
Moore said the Tamiflu and amantadine were ordered earlier this year.
Canada began adjusting its stockpiles this spring in response to concerns the
H1N1 influenza virus was developing resistance to Tamiflu.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones said most stockpiles around
the world contain Tamiflu because it's a pill, which makes it easier to
administer and store than Relenza, which is inhaled.
http://www.thestar.com/newsfeatures/swineflu/article/694722
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Inmates die as officials dither, watchdog says
Prevention, more oversight needed: Ombudsman
Sep 12, 2009 04:30 AM
Richard J. Brennan
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–The federal corrections system is more concerned with bureaucracy than
doing the heavy lifting needed to prevent deaths in Canada's prisons,
Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers says.
In a scathing review released yesterday, Sapers said vulnerable inmates will
continue to die in Correctional Service of Canada facilities until the system
gets serious about prevention.
"It is time for the service to deliver the basic levels of care, treatment and
protection mandated by law and policy and to have this delivery subjected to
greater external oversight," the ombudsman told a press conference.
"It's become clear that the service cannot police itself."
Sapers' critique is partly in response to the prison system's rejection of
recommendations following the 2007 suicide of troubled 19-year-old Ashley Smith,
who was an inmate at a prison in Kitchener.
"Ashley Smith's death is a particular tragedy and I believe it represents a real
low point in terms of correctional practice in Canada," he said.
Since October 2007 there have been 104 deaths in federal custody, at least 17 of
which were suicides.
"It is my great fear that inmates in federal custody will continue to die while
people are holding polite conservations around these recommendations," Sapers
said.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, whose responsibilities include
corrections, said, "How we treat our mentally ill goes to the very heart of what
this country is all about."
"We agree with Mr. Sapers that this issue requires ongoing attention," he told
the Star.
The death of Smith, who made almost daily attempts on her life, and slowly
strangled herself on Oct. 19, 2007 in her segregated cell while prison staff
looked on, focused national attention on the inadequate oversight in the prison
system. The staff had been warned not to enter her cell until she stopped
breathing. Managers issued the order to reduce "use of force" incidents.
Smith, who was imprisoned at age 15 for minor offences, was transferred from
institution to institution 17 times in less than a year and kept in segregation,
never getting the mental health care she needed.
Sapers said that rather than address its policy on segregating mentally ill
inmates, the Correctional Service reviewed its accommodation plan looking at how
often and for what reasons offenders are segregated.
"The fact they have reviewed their accommodation strategy in really no
substantial way addresses the issue of mentally ill offenders being placed in
isolation to begin with and being kept there for inhumanely long periods of
time," he said.
The CSC must provide independent external monitoring of mentally ill inmates in
segregation. "This measure alone may well have prevented Ashley's death," he
said.
http://www.thestar.com/article/694705
----------------------------------------------------------------------
HARARE, Zimbabwe – A Zimbabwe official says 1,500 prisoners are being released
across the country under a presidential amnesty program designed to ease
overcrowding.
Elizabeth Banda, manager for Zimbabwe's prisons, says 150 have already been
freed from Harare Central Remand Prison, the first of Zimbabwe's 46 prisons to
begin the program. She said Friday that 1,500 prisoners would be released
throughout the day.
President Robert Magus granted amnesty last week to women, juveniles, the
terminally ill, and prisoners sentenced to 38 months or less who had served at
least a quarter of their sentences.
Zimbabwe's prisons are harsh and beset by food shortages, with some inmates
dying of diarrhea and cholera.
http://preferredbypete.com/world-news/16715-official-1-500-zimbabwe-prisoners-fr\
eed.html
======================================================================
Jailed Canadian touted for peace prize
RORY PECK TRUST HANDOUT/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Maziar Bahari, in jail since June, "has been acquitted," says Liberal MP who
wouldn't reveal his source.
Journalist charged with inciting uprisings in Iran is a top contender for
prestigious Spanish award
Sep 09, 2009 04:30 AM
Olivia Ward
Foreign Affairs Reporter
After nearly three months in an Iranian jail, Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari,
42, is a top contender for one of the world's most prestigious prizes, the
Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, known as Spain's equivalent of the Nobel
Peace Prize.
The award, to be announced tomorrow, aims to reward the scientific, technical,
cultural, social and humanistic work by individuals or groups at an
international level.
If Bahari, who also has Iranian citizenship, wins, the odds of him being able to
collect the award in person are uncertain.
"My information is that he has been acquitted," says Liberal MP Dan McTeague,
who has been involved in high profile cases of Canadians held overseas. "But the
(Canadian) government has to make it clear that he has never worked for them in
Iran."
McTeague said Bahari, who was working for Newsweek, had been charged with
relatively minor offences of inciting political uprisings, which Iran contends
were backed by Western countries. He was one of more than two dozen journalists
and bloggers seized in a sweep of suspected government opponents after protests
broke out in the wake of the widely contested June election.
McTeague said he could not reveal his source about the acquittal but believed it
was credible.
Yesterday, the department of foreign affairs said it questioned McTeague's claim
and no other source could corroborate it.
But, it said, "nothing is excluded in our constant efforts to ask for his
immediate release. The case of Maziar Bahari is a priority issue for Canada in
our current dealings with Iran. (Foreign Affairs) has been closely following and
pursuing Mr. Bahari's case since his arrest in Iran on June 21."
Ottawa has had rocky relations with Tehran since the death of photojournalist
Zahra Kazemi in Iranian custody in 2003.
Some arrested journalists have been released, but Bahari's case went to court,
part of a series of show trials that included prominent reformers, opposition
members and protesters. He reportedly confessed to "promoting a colour
revolution," a reference to protests that broke out in Ukraine, Lebanon and
Georgia.
"That was something he'd never say of his own free will," Bahari's pregnant
wife, Paola Gourley, told MSNBC from London, adding that she burst into tears
because her husband looked "so gaunt" in photographs taken since his arrest.
Fears for Bahari's security were raised by reports from human rights groups, and
those who were released from jail, claiming that prisoners were given
contaminated food and water, beaten, intimidated and kept in inhumane
conditions. There were also allegations of rape and torture.
Reports in the Iranian media say Sadegh Larijani, the newly appointed head of
Iran's judiciary, has announced he would free some prisoners and punish people
responsible for abusing them. He recently released some allies of opposition
leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
With files from the Star's news services
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/692744#
=====================================================================
OPINION
TheStar.com | Opinion | A puzzled Canadian ponders surreal U.S. health-care
debate
A puzzled Canadian ponders surreal U.S. health-care debate
MALCOLM MAYES/ARTIZANS.COM
Why are Americans distorting the reality of Canada's most prized social program?
Sep 09, 2009 04:30 AM
Alastair Rickard
Earlier this year, before the political battle over health-care reform in the
U.S. reached its current fever pitch, I was in Tuscaloosa answering questions
from University of Alabama business students.
They were interested in my views, as a Canadian and as a former insurance
company executive, about what they had been told about the Canadian health-care
system.
My impression was that much of what they had heard had been the sort of
right-wing, special interest nonsense that has subsequently characterized the
health-care reform debate in the United States.
I told them that Canadians value their single-payer government health-care
system so strongly that any change that appears to pose a threat to it is the
third rail of Canadian politics; that most Canadians value the system's quality
of care; and that although many do still complain about wait times to see
specialists in certain fields, government has moved to address this issue in
recent years. By April of this year, at least 75 per cent of patients in Canada
were receiving non-emergency surgeries within appropriate wait-time benchmarks.
If asked to single out an aspect of Canadian society superior to that of our
American neighbours, most Canadians would cite first our health-care system.
What I also might have mentioned were aspects of the American health-care debate
that Canadians find puzzling, if not downright perverse. These include:
The use of wildly misleading references to wait times in Canada even though 47
million Americans have no health insurance and, therefore, are forced to line up
for treatment in hospital emergency rooms, to say nothing of the thousands who
queue in parking lots across the U.S. to receive free treatment periodically
provided by "Remote Area Medical" volunteers.
U.S. opinion polls that show 77 per cent of Americans are generally satisfied
with their health care when so many millions of their fellow citizens are
uninsured and many millions more under-insured; when three-quarters of the
families filing for illness-related bankruptcy actually have health insurance;
and when insurance premiums have grown three times faster than wages between
2000 and 2008.
The negative representation of Canadians' experience with "socialized medicine."
That portrayal is at odds with reality. For example: 85 per cent of Canadians
have their own primary care physician and 92 per cent would recommend that
doctor to a relative or friend; 95 per cent of Canadians with chronic conditions
have a regular place of care; of those requiring ongoing medical care most were
able to see a doctor within seven days.
The widespread use of an exceptional and misleading Canadian case. It involves a
television commercial featuring an Ontario woman, who (American viewers are
told) had to go to the U.S. to have a life-threatening brain tumour removed in
order to save her life. Why? Because of a six-month wait time in Canada for
treatment. The patient has since admitted to a three-month wait time involving a
diagnosed benign Rathkes cleft cyst, the removal of which at a Mayo Clinic in
Arizona cost her $97,000 that she is now seeking to recover from the province
where its removal would have cost her nothing.
The fact that a huge contributor to the rapidly rising cost of U.S. health care
is the central involvement of insurance companies. They add significant cost due
to both administrative complication and inefficiency as well as the pursuit of
profit. Canada constructed a health-care "insurance" system from which insurance
companies were excluded in favour of single-payer, state-financed insurance.
Thoughtful Americans understand that insurance companies are needed for an
efficient, patient-oriented health-care system as much as a fish needs a
bicycle. Minimizing the payment of health claims by insurance companies is, for
executives interested in their compensation and their careers, what the
companies' role in health care is all about.
President Barack Obama will address a joint session of Congress tonight in a bid
to revive his faltering health-care initiative. From a Canadian perspective, the
U.S. debate seems to have been shaped by the unfortunate conjunction of several
factors:
A political system that continues to be captive to special interests like
insurance and Big Pharma companies, which spend millions of dollars annually
lobbying against even small steps toward reform.
A credulous American public, many of whom seem prepared to believe what appears
to most Canadians as laughable propaganda from the right against any hint of
advantage to be derived by patients from a public health-care system.
The absence of impact on so many members of Congress of indisputable facts,
including higher American spending on health care as a proportion of GDP (nearly
17 per cent) than any other OECD country government (in Canada it is 10 per
cent), without securing the best health outcomes for its citizens. According to
the World Health Organization, the United States spends 23 per cent more per
capita on health care than Canada does.
The fact that advocates of what to most Canadians is the best and only serious
option – a single-payer system similar to the existing U.S. medicare system for
the elderly and disabled – not only have not been given a decent seat at the
table in this debate but have been deliberately excluded from any genuine
participation by politicians of both parties.
The current U.S. health-care system and the opposition to meaningful and
desperately needed reform strikes me (and I think I have lots of company among
Canadians) as being as bizarre as American gun laws.
The latter likely is the second biggest difference most Canadians would cite
between their society and that of their neighbours.
Alastair Rickard is a former executive with Mutual Life, Clarica Life and Sun
Life and was the founding editor of the Canadian Journal of Life Insurance. He
blogs at RickardsRead.com.
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/692614
======================================================================
Stop boycotting legal aid system, attorney general tells lawyers
Sep 09, 2009 06:38 PM
Tracey Tyler
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
Attorney General Chris Bentley is encouraging criminal lawyers to stop
boycotting the legal aid system, saying the province will consider giving them
enhanced fees for complex trials and end its practise of paying expert defence
witnesses about half of what prosecution experts get.
Bentley unveiled more details today of how the province would like to use the
additional $150 million it plans to spend on legal aid services over the next
four years, including more mediation for people immersed in family law disputes
and expanding information programs for litigants entering a courthouse for the
first time.
In an interview with the Star, Bentley said he plans to set up five working
groups of "front-line practitioners" in coming weeks to discuss how the money
should be used, part of what he's calling legal aid's "transformation plan." In
the meantime, defence lawyers, who launched their protest June 1, should
"continue to take cases," he suggests.
"We have the money. We have our goals," said Bentley. "I think we (now) want to
get the good advice of lawyers. "We want to know how the increased funding,
which the people of Ontario are providing, will be translating into better
support for the people who need access to (legal aid) services."
But while the government says it will spend an extra $150 million on legal aid
over the next four years, it actually amounts to only a $60 million increase in
Legal Aid Ontario's annual budget, currently about $300 million.
The legal aid budget will increase to $315 million the first year, $330 million
in year two, $345 million the next year and $360 million after that. In one
notable change, Bentley confirmed today that expert defence witnesses, who now
receive $110 an hour under legal aid, will be paid the same as Crown experts,
who currently get $200 an hour.
Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, said while it is
"a very good step" that will probably improve the prospect of an accused person
receiving a fair trial, legal aid's base funding will still be "not sufficient"
to attract junior lawyers and stop senior counsel from fleeing the program.
"I don't think you can treat this program as one in which you are constantly
looking for efficiencies on the backs of either defendants or their lawyers,"
said Addario, whose members decided earlier this week to continue their boycott,
which has been aimed primarily at increasing the hourly rate for legal aid work.
Lawyers are currently paid between approximately $77 and $97 an hour. Earlier
this year, the Criminal Lawyers' Association estimated it would cost the
province up to $120 million to increase their fees to between $105 and $140 an
hour, as recommended by an earlier provincial inquiry.
Legal aid, a high profile program for the province, is worthy of the investment,
argued Addario, because it helps ensure high quality justice.
"I say our system is really good. We have a professional prosecution service, a
judiciary that's not corrupt and defence counsel who are professional."
But as part of his legal aid reform package, Bentley is considering abolishing
the practice of paying lawyers by the hour, substituting a system of "block
fees" for most cases.
Many years ago, block fees - or flat rates - were the backbone of the legal aid
tarriff. Some believe they encourage lawyers to be efficient, but others
complain that fixed fees are unfair because they are calculated on the basis of
standard cases with no complications. When a case goes off the rails and a
lawyer ends up spending more time than expected, they may not be compensated for
the additional time.
On the other hand, when it comes to complex time-consuming trials, such as
murders and gang cases, Bentley indicated he may be willing to continue paying
lawyers by the hour, perhaps even at an "enhanced rate" patterned after B.C.'s
legal program, which reimburses lawyers about $125 an hour.
"Let's see how that would work in the province of Ontario," Bentley suggested.
"Let's sit down and talk."
Addario said the door is open.
"We're not interested in throwing up walls or creating barriers to
communication," he said. "We want to work with the government. We are the
service providers."
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/693267
======================================================================
24 hours
toronto
immigration law
q & a with mario bellissimo
q: we would like to pursue the possibility of returning to canada
as residents. my husband and i became permanent residents in 2002.
we received our pr cards in 2004 which expired in august 2009.
we lived in canada for a total of only eight months. we are
malaysian citizens but we have been living in the u.s. for the
last nine years as students and now with h1b visas. is there
anything we can do to reactivate our permanent residence?
a: you have compromised your permanent resident status by not
complying with the residency obligation, mainly, to be in canada
for at least two years out of any five.
but you do have options. you could look into the possibility of
making another permanent residency application, but as the law
has changed since 2002, you must determine if you qualify.
another alternative would be to continue your studies in canada
as temporary residents. you could also attempt to maintain your
permanent status on a humanitarian basis and try to justify
why you have been outside of canada for so long.
maria bellissimo is a toronto-based lawyer certified as a
specialist in citizenship, immigration and refugee protection.
info@...http://www.24hrs.ca
======================================================================
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