My letter to Federal NDP regarding civil liberties and Canadian sover

[jj_frap]

eignty...

Dear Honourable Members:

During the January 2003 leadership campaign, Jack Layton spoke out in favour of the legalisation of cannabis, a promise that Liberal governments have consistently made and broken in the wake of the Canadian Senate’s 1972 Le Dain Report, which recommended that cannabis be legalised and appropriately regulated. Le Dain’s recommendations were reiterated (but not subsequently acted upon) in a 2002 report from the Senate’s Special Committee on Illegal Drugs. Subsequently, Mr. Layton would appear with Marc Emery in the fall of 2003 (coincidentally the same time that I joined the party), garnering considerable public support for the NDP by again expressing support for the liberalisation of our cannabis laws. Mr. Layton, however, has since back-pedalled, remaining silent when Saskatchewan arrested Mr. Emery for passing a joint in the summer of 2004.

Lamentably, the silence has since grown all the more deafening, with neither Mr. Layton nor the party making a statement regarding Mr. Emery’s recent arrest and potential extradition to the United States of America for selling cannabis seeds to Americans, even though he has never violated the law while on American soil, even though he has sold enough seeds to face life in prison in a jurisdiction where capital punishment is prescribed for the cultivation of over 60,000 cannabis plants, even though a majority of Canadians do not view his behaviour as criminal, even though Canada’s laws prohibiting the distribution of viable cannabis seats have not been enforced in over 35 years, even though the seeds that Emery sold may not even meet the definition of “viable” that exists under our current cannabis laws, and even though Washington and Beijing-led prohibitionist policies have proven to be a miserable failure, both in Canada and abroad. To be fair however, NDP MP Libby Davies did release statements on both the recent situation and the 2004 prison sentence, although the party failed to amplify her words and take any official position.

This disenchanting show of weakness represents a direct contradiction to the strong core of ideals that has led me and millions of progressive-minded Canadians to join or support the New Democratic Party. These ideals include an unwavering commitment to the protection and the expansion of our civil liberties, a desire for a strong and sovereign Canada governed by and for Canadians, a willingness to work for social justice, for economic fairness, and for sustainable development within the framework of a vibrant mixed economy comprising a strong labour movement, and an ethos that strives for social change when the status quo is simply not acceptable.

The NDP now stands at a crossroads, in a position to do one of two things: First, the party can take a strong, uncompromising stance in support of our civil liberties and of Canadian sovereignty, proving beyond doubt’s ever-looming shadow that it truly is the movement that we and millions of our predecessors have strived and struggled to build. Alternatively, we can waver and lay down when strength remains the only option, a road that -- as Bob Rae proved to us -- is paved only in ruin. For it was not the timid that unveiled Quebec’s great cloak of darkness, it was not the meek that allowed Tommy Douglas to corral Saskatchewan’s Liberal and Conservative robber bandits, and it was not the cowards that kicked Maggie out of 10 Downing Street.

In liberty, equality, and democracy,

Me

(P.S. I hope something "unfortunate" happens to the DEA offices in Vancouver and Ottawa. You assholes have no business being in our country and taking our freedom away.)

[Benal]

[ QUOTE ]
You have no business being in our country and taking our freedom away

[/ QUOTE ]

Amen

[GOODBEATGUY2001]

wtg, JJ! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[kt421]

Great letter.

Another thing that should anger Canadians is that our justice system is being co-opted into a politically motivated prosecution. One hopes that this become apparent and that Canada refuses to extradite Emery.

The Extradition Act sets out two reasons that the Justice Minister must (yes, must) refuse to surrender someone for extradition. First, if the prosecution is politically-motivated. Second, if the person faces unjust or oppressive punishment. Both factors are present in the Emery case. Ten to life for a crime that Canada issues fines for, if it bothers to prosecute at all, is certainly unjust (except, perhaps, to lock-em-up prohibitionists, I suppose).

But the political motivation behind the prosecution is what should be most troubling to Canadians. Emery was targeted for his political activism. Emery is Canada's most vocal opponent of marijuana prohibition. What many, perhaps, did not know is that the supposed "big dollars" that he's "raked in" were are re-invested into that activism. This angered the DEA, which shut down Emery (leaving dozens of seed sellers open and doing brisk business), gloating that Emery's arrest was a "significant blow to the marijuana legalization movement."

It sets a bad precedent for democracy when the criminal laws are used to target and silence legitimate public debate on important issues. Whatever one's views on marijuana, anyone concerned with free speech and attempts to foster peaceful democratic change should be concerned that the Canadian justice system is being used for the US DEA's political ends.