Canada's slow march down the road of perdition to authoritarianism and enabled abuse of power continues unabetted.
This blogger aims to "throw the book" at the abusers.
Alison Bodine, from Broomfield, Colorado, arrived at the Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, B.C., on her way to give of her time further to an anti-war group based in B.C. called Mobilization Against War and Occupation.
All she carried in her car were anti-war pamphlets and a book of Ansel Adams photos
Nothing out of the ordinary so far. But here is the clincher: Alison Bodine was detained by Canadian immigration officials for two days, her car and possessions confiscated.
Why?
Well, Canadian custom agents told Alison Bodine that there is a Canadian-wide arrest warrant issued against her.
She spent the night of 09/13/2007 in a jail in Surrey and then was transferred to a holding cell at Vancouver International Airport before being released the night of 09/14/2007.
She was never shown proof of a Canada-wide arrest warrant, nor was she told what were the charges against her. All she was told is that she will have an "admissibility" hearing on this day of 09/17/2007 at the immigration offices.
Even worse: When she returned to claim her car and possessions, Canadian immigration and customs agents arrested her again with no intention of releasing her before her September 17th hearing. After a significant impromptu rally and her participating in radio interviews from jail, she was released anew.
Interestingly, as of 4:30 PM today, Alison Bodine is not on the RCMP's Wanted list, a list which the RCMP updates regularly, especially with regards to Canada-wide warrants. I checked this myself - you may do the same here. There is neither any mention of an Alison Bodine having been captured or taken in custody, an announcement-update the RCMP performs whenever a "wanted" person is arrested.
No Alison Bodine on the list at all, therefore no Canadian-wide arrest warrant issued against her according to the RCMP!
Ergo: Canadian immigration and customs agents lied in order to justify the wrongful and illegal arrest and detention of Alison Bodine.
Here is Article 2 of the Bill of Rights in the Canadian constitution (emphasis mine):
Every law of Canada shall, unless it is expressly declared by an Act of the Parliament of Canada that it shall operate notwithstanding the Canadian Bill of Rights, be so construed and applied as not to abrogate, abridge or infringe or to authorize the abrogation, abridgment or infringement of any of the rights or freedoms herein recognized and declared, and in particular, no law of Canada shall be construed or applied so as toClearly, the Canadian immigration and custom agents infringed on the human rights of Alison Bodine by:
(a) authorize or effect the arbitrary detention, imprisonment or exile of any person;
(b) impose or authorize the imposition of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment;
(c) deprive a person who has been arrested or detained(i) of the right to be informed promptly of the reason for his arrest or detention,(d) authorize a court, tribunal, commission, board or other authority to compel a person to give evidence if he is denied counsel, protection against self crimination or other constitutional safeguards;
(ii) of the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay, or
(iii) of the remedy by way of habeas corpus for the determination of the validity of his detention and for his release if the detention is not lawful;
(e) deprive a person of the right to a fair hearing in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice for the determination of his rights and obligations;
(f) deprive a person charged with a criminal offence of the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, or of the right to reasonable bail without just cause; or
(g) deprive a person of the right to the assistance of an interpreter in any proceedings in which he is involved or in which he is a party or a witness, before a court, commission, board or other tribunal, if he does not understand or speak the language in which such proceedings are conducted.
A) lying about a Canada-wide arrest warrant issued against her in order to arrest and detain her;
B) therefore by performing an illegal "arrest without a warrant", since they willfully lied to justify such an arrest, in clear contravention of the Canadian Criminal Code (specifically, Part XVI, Article 495):
495. (1) A peace officer may arrest without warrantInterestingly, immigration and custom agents must follow the same laws and procedures as peace officers described in the Criminal Code (Customs Act: Part VI.1, Article 163.5). Hence, while they have the power to detain, they must still do so according to the Criminal Code where criminal offenses are concerned - which they clearly did not;
(a) a person who has committed an indictable offence or who, on reasonable grounds, he believes has committed or is about to commit an indictable offence;
(b) a person whom he finds committing a criminal offence; or
(c) a person in respect of whom he has reasonable grounds to believe that a warrant of arrest or committal, in any form set out in Part XXVIII in relation thereto, is in force within the territorial jurisdiction in which the person is found.
C) confiscating her possessions against the provisions of the Criminal Code (either under Part II.1, Article 83.08 or XII.2, Article 462.32), as well as against the Customs Act (Part VI, Article 110);
D) refusing to return her property (against Part VI, Article 117 of the Customs Act);
E) arresting her again without any justifiable or probable cause, again in contravention of the Criminal Code and the Customs Act;
and F) consequently, by having abused existing laws in order to effect the arbitrary arrest and detention of Alison Bodine, in addition to deprive her of the right to be informed promptly of the reason for her arrest or detention, and of the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay, all in contravention to Article 2 of the Bill of Rights.
In short: the Canada immigration and customs agents broke the Law.
But why, exactly, do this?
Dixit Alison Bodine: "This was a bit of a test, to see what happens when they arrest someone who isn't agreeing with their current foreign policy."
I agree completely.
What we do have here indeed is a clear instance whereby our Laws have been abused in order to essentially prevent/repress dissent.
So, here are my questions:
i) Did the custom agents acted on their own initiative?Regardless of the answers, these officers must be fired, at the very least, and Alison Bodine must be awarded reparations from the Canadian government.
ii) Were they instead instructed by superiors?
iii) Where does the buck stops ultimately?
Furthermore, the people ultimately responsible for this must resign, again at the very least.
And last, but not least, I call on Prime Minister Harper to make a clear statement to Canadians and all potential visitors from the U.S. and elsewhere, that never again will our laws be so abused in order to perform actions which are tantamount to mendacious authoritarian repression tactics of not only Article 2 of the Bill of Rights, but also of Article 1 (emphasis mine):
It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,I refuse to accept the use of Stalinist/Gestapo-like tactics by either border agents, police officers or security agency agents. Any and all such actions must be met with condemnation, recrimination and contempt. Furthermore, I expect and demand that any and all perpetrators of such abuses of power must face the consequences of their reprehensible actions and pay the price - whether by being criminally charged, by being obligated to confer monetary compensation and/or by losing their employment.
(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;
(b) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;
(c) freedom of religion;
(d) freedom of speech;
(e) freedom of assembly and association; and
(f) freedom of the press.
This is where I stand.
Where do you?
(h/t to Canadian Cynic and Pale)
Update: 09/18/2007 - Further precisions and corrections with regards to the exact chain of events which lead to Alison Bodine's illegal arrest and detention. Via Peace, Earth and Justice News (h/t again to Pale):
Three days prior, on Monday Sept 10th, Alison was harassed by Canadian Border Guards while traveling from the US into Canada after border officials searched her vehicle, which contained various political materials and progressive newspapers. At that time however she was granted legal entry into Canada. After her political materials and belongings were seized at the border on Monday Sept 10th, she returned to claim them on Thursday Sept 13th as she was returning to the US. At the border she was handcuffed and told she was under arrest, and that a warrant had been issued for her arrest in Canada.So, her car was not initially seized, but only the harmless anti-war literature that she carried. Furthermore, she was actually allowed entry initially and only when she returned at the border crossing to retrieve her possessions was she illegally arrested and detained.
Hence, although she was not arrested twice, it doesn't change the fact that she was nevertheless deprived of her basic human rights and that the border agents broke the law (as I outlined above already).
Further update on Alison Bodine's immigration hearing: it was supposed to be on the 14, then it was rescheduled on the 17th. This one has been cancelled as well.
Why do you think? Laws of the Criminal Code and the Customs Act were clearly broken here - it would appear that more time is required for those law-breaking, abusive incompetents to either come up with bogus justifications, or delay such an hearing in the hope that Alison Bodine will simply give up and never seek to enter Canada again.
More than ever, all those involved in Alison Bodine's illegal arrest and detention, whether directly or throughout the "chain of command", must be fired at the very least.
Furthermore, the repeated cancellations and reschedulings of her immigration "admissibility" hearing are in clear violation of Article 2 of the Bill of Rights.
Such base tactics on the part of Immigration Canada are outrageous and unacceptable.
Period.
Then again, should we be surprised by this when abusive thugs with badges are implicated in a wrongful and unlawful incident of arrest and detention?
In the meantime, Alison Bodine remains in Limbo, without her U.S. passport and driver's license.
