Two well-respected US peace activists, CODEPINK and Global Exchange cofounder Medea Benjamin and retired Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright, were denied entry into Canada On October third. The two women were headed to Toronto to discuss peace and security issues at the invitation of the Toronto Stop the War Coalition. At the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Bridge they were detained, questioned and denied entry.
"In my case, the border guard pulled up a file showing that I had been arrested at the US Mission to the UN where, on International Women's Day, a group of us had tried to deliver a peace petition signed by 152,000 women around the world," says Benjamin. "For this, the Canadians labeled me a criminal and refused to allow me in the country."
"The FBI's placing of peace activists on an international criminal database is blatant political intimidation of US citizens opposed to Bush administration policies," says Colonel Wright, who was also Deputy US Ambassador in four countries. "The Canadian government should certainly not accept this FBI database as the criteria for entering the country." Both Wright and Benjamin plan to request their files from the FBI through the Freedom of Information Act and demand that arrests for peaceful, non-violent actions be expunged from international records. "It's outrageous that Canada is turning away peacemakers protesting a war that does not have the support of either US or Canadian citizens," says Benjamin.
"In the past, Canada has always welcomed peace activists with open arms. This new policy, obviously a creature of the Bush administration, is shocking and we in the US and Canada must insist that it be overturned. Four members of the Canadian Parliament--Peggy Nash, Libby Davies, Paul Dewar and Peter Julian-- expressed outrage that the peace activists were barred from Canada and vow to change this policy.
Ann Wright told OpEdNews that this was the second time the two Code Pink activists had been turned away from the border, the first event ocurring on August 19th.
Wright explained, "We decided to go to Canadian border to push the envelope to see if the Canadian Gov would not let us into Canada again until we had been "criminally rehabilitated."
To be criminally rehabilitated, they would have to do a huge amount of paperwork and state that they were no longer going to commit the "crimes" they were convicted of.
Wright told OpEdNews "We were told (by the canadian border agents) if we tried to enter Canada again, we would be officially deported from the country, which is "big trouble. 'We've warned you not to come back until we are criminally rehabilitated.'
Wright asserted, "We will never be criminally rehabilitated since we intend to continue to engage in non-violent peaceful protest of Bush administration policies, particular the war on Iraq and we intend to peacefully and nonviolently protest all of these until they end. They can lead to arrests for civil disobedience, like refusing to move from the fence in front of the whitehouse or standing up and speaking at congressional hearings."
Wright explained that the Canadians, by their own law, do not allow people in who have been convicted of various kinds of offenses.
If, when you are asked by a Canadian immigration officer if you have been arrested, they check the FBI database and that's how they found we were listed.
Wright added, "The fact that the FBI has put us on this list. The National Crime Information Center Computerized Index is a form of political intimidation. The list is supposed to be for felony and serious misdemeanor offenses.
"We don't qualify-- it's for sex offenders, foreign fugitives, gang violence and terrorist organizations, people who are on parole, a list of eight categories all together.
"It is very disturbing. We've asked our congressional representatives to investigate this."
According to Wright, there was almost no coverage of this in the US, except for an AP release. In Canada, Toronto's Globe and Mail and several other newspapers and three Canadian TV stations covered it.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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The "list" works two ways. A Canadian such as myself, who spoke out against the war, is on the "list". In Canada there is no way to get your name off it. (I suppose a large bank account could help) It all happened when Bush, Martin and Fox had there visit before the Minority government under Harper came to office.
by
IwasJulius (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 30 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 1:25:32 PM
The fact that Canada is deferring to Cheney's request is a terrible turn for the worse. The recent meeting of multi-nationalist capitalists along with US, Canadian, and Mexican officials at Montebello means that something is up their sleeve.
People should be allowed to protest their government. When they can't we've become 1984. You can rest assured, however, that Hillary Clinton will subscribe to the same establishmentarian policies. With her we will 'enjoy' the same downward trajectory.
There are very few choices for president that will get us out of this mess. The clearest one is to vote for Ron Paul for President.
by
Frank Staheli (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 27 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 1:46:31 PM
That was quite a leap from, "People should be allowed to protest their government", to "Hillary Clinton will subscribe to the same establishmentarian policies. With her we will 'enjoy' the same downward trajectory."
While the first part of the statement at least has the Bill of Rights and the Constitution behind it, making it hard for any American to dispute, the second half is just subjective opinion and derives no additional validation just because it is butressed it up against an assertion of our rights.
Don't like Hilary? Ok, whatever, but there is no proof whatsoever that she will be as bad as the criminals who have spent 6+ years breaking the law, undermining the Constitution and causing massive death and destruction for their own profit.
What is truly heinous about this accusation is not that it insulted Hilary, or that it's author couldn't even come up with anything better to do so than an allusion to the anti-Hilary Microsoft ad rip-off, but that it so seriously diminishes the horrible extent of the damage that Bush and his crew of miscreants have caused this country and the world.
Hilary may be a single-minded and agressively ambitious politician with a fire in her belly to be president, but can that really be comparable to criminals who have lied this country into an unnecessary war while ignoring the fact that their Saudi buddies were the ones who attacked us?
Say what you will about Hilary but I do not for one moment believe that she would have turned a blind eye to that memo warning about an imminent attack and I don't believe if we were attacked by someone she would continue to treat them like her BFF's and attack a different country that was not threat to us, as bush has done.
Not to mention torture, and rendition to secret prisons, or the fact that the president has declared himself above the law.
And I think chances are a lot better that Hilary actually has read and understands the Constitution than the current occupant of the Oval Office.
Saying that Hilary will be "as bad" as Bush is only an indication of a lack of awareness of just how bad it really is. We are way beyond, "Bush is bad but she'll be bad too".
by
Ruth Lopez (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 23 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 11:50:54 PM
Nationalism has always been fairly flabby in Canada -- we're not big flagwavers up here -- but this issue with Medea is experienced as pretty damn humiliating. On orders from Washington, Candians taxpayers have spent billions on border security to help protect Americans from the enemies their leadership insists on multiplying. But all it does is isolate Canadians from their friends.
As if this weren't bad enough, have a look at this:
cbc newsworld, October 3, 2007
Canada's nasty reputation
NEIL MACDONALD
C
harles Schumer is the senior U.S. senator from New York, and one of the most accomplished self-promoters in Washington, which says a great deal about his powers of self-promotion. He's a busy fellow.
When he showed up last week at a televised Senate committee hearing, he wasn't interested in the expert witnesses testifying about security along the Canada-U.S. border. Schumer sat down just long enough to get some face time on the live cameras and to put some remarks on the record.
"It's extremely troubling, extremely troubling," he said. "We have seen, crossing the Buffalo border on occasion, terrorists …"
Congress, said Schumer, must do something about it. His fellow senators nodded gravely, and Senator Max Baucus from Montana started talking about how easy it might be for someone in Canada to build a dirty bomb. Schumer hurried off.
Here's the Canadian coverage, if anyone's interested:
The Toronto Star, 5 October
>Absurd= to bar entry, U.S. activists sayNicholas Keung
Two U.S. peace activists who were turned back at the border are asking why Canada is colluding with the American government in suppressing voices opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Medea Benjamin, 55, and Ann Wright, 61, were stopped at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and detained for almost three hours because they had been flagged in an FBI‑run international database normally used to track violent fugitives, sex offenders and terrorists.
"This is absurd," said Benjamin, co‑founder of CODEPINK, an anti‑war group. "It's outrageous that Canada is turning away peacemakers protesting a criminal, illegal war that does not have the support of either U.S. or Canadian citizens."
The pair held a news conference in front of Canada's embassy in Washington yesterday.
Benjamin and Wright, a retired colonel and diplomat, have nine convictions between them, all involving civil disobedience committed while protesting the war in Iraq. Just three weeks ago, both were arrested for disrupting Washington hearings at which Gen. David Petraeus was testifying on the war.
They have worked closely with Canadian anti‑war groups and entered without incident in the past, though they were warned last time, in August, they would need to go through a "rehabilitation program" before being admitted again.
Wednesday's crossing, on foot, was staged to "test whether the Canadian government has a policy of denying entry to peaceful activists."
The ban outraged activist groups on both sides of the border, including the Toronto Stop the War Coalition, which had invited the two women to a planning meeting for the Oct. 27 International Day of Action to oppose the war.
The Canada Border Services Agency said visitors with criminal convictions are inadmissible.
The Toronto Star, 6 October
EDITORIAL
Give peaceniks a break
Medea Benjamin, 55, and Ann Wright, 61, are two well‑known U.S. anti‑war activists who have been convicted in American courts for such minor offences as trespass. They specialize in chanting "Give peace a chance" in inappropriate places, staging White House lawn sit‑ins, embarrassing U.S. diplomats and disrupting hearings.
Their non‑violent civil disobedience poses no threat to Canadians, the majority of whom opposed the Iraq war from the start.
Yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government apparently regards these middle‑aged activists as criminals. They were turned back at Niagara Falls this week when Canadian border officials saw their names red‑flagged in a Federal Bureau of Investigation database normally used to identify terrorists, violent criminals and sex offenders.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's pious observation that officials do what they must "to make sure that our borders are safe," makes him sound not overly bright. What's next? Barring jaywalkers?
Canada should be on the lookout for brazen criminals, not brazen peace activists. Border officials should use common sense in dealing with peaceful political activists, and let them in. If they commit some hideous offence here, like trespass, they can be lawfully charged.
Until then, let's give peace a chance, and give the peaceniks a break.
From Friday's Globe and Mail
October 5, 2007 at 12:44 AM EDT
Decision to bar U.S. activists draws fire
PAUL KORING
WASHINGTON C A day after two U.S. anti‑war activists were barred from entering Canada, the reasons for their rejection remained unclear.
Barring entry to anti‑war activists is Aabsurd,@ NDP MP Olivia Chow said Thursday after two U.S. women, both with long records of non‑violent protest, were turned away by Canadian border guards.
Ann Wright, a retired U.S. army colonel and former diplomat who quit in opposition to the Iraq war, and Medea Benjamin, co‑founder of Code Pink, a women's peace group, were refused entry this week, apparently because their names have been added to an FBI database.
AThese are not terrorists; why do we have to protect Canadians from them?@ said Ms. Chow, who represents the Toronto riding of Trinity‑Spadina. AWe should not be allowing the FBI or Mr. Bush to dictate our entry policy.@
Stockwell Day, the Minister for Public Safety, who is responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency, said: AI can't give you details on specific cases,@ when asked about the activists. AI can tell you that our border officers do everything within their mandate to make sure that our borders are safe.@
Both activists, clad in pink and backed by anti‑war supporters holding banners, held a news conference outside the Canadian embassy in Washington Thursday.
They said they were astonished that the names of anti‑war activists convicted of misdemeanours B such as trespass, the offence routinely used to clear peaceful protesters B had been added to the FBI's National Crime Information Center database.
AThis is outrageous. I'm appealing to Canadians not to treat peaceful activists like common criminals,@ Ms. Benjamin said.
AI travel all over the world on a regular basis and Canada is the first country to use the NCIC to keep out people like us,@ said the veteran activist and founding director of Global Exchange, an international social justice movement.
Both women have previously visited Canada for anti‑war meetings, sometimes at the invitation of Canadian activist groups or political parties.
Canadian border agents have access to the FBI's database. The border agents at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls who barred Ms. Benjamin and Ms. Wright said the mere fact that they were listed on the NCIC was sufficient to bar them from entry.
AThe people at the border were almost apologetic. YOne of them said he thought the war was terrible,@ Ms. Benjamin said. She said the Canadian immigration official told her that he had no choice. AHe said it wasn't up to him.@
In Ottawa, border agency spokesman Chris Williams denied that simply being listed on the FBI's NCIC database would automatically bar someone from entry to Canada.
AEntry is always judged on a case‑by‑case basis,@ he said.
However, the actual basis for denying entry to anti‑war activists remained unclear.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the NCIC is simply a database provided by local and state police forces. He confirmed that some forces might file reports about individuals arrested from non‑violent political protests while others might not.
AIt's a clearinghouse of information shared with law enforcement,@ he said.
The two activists met with a diplomat at the Canadian embassy in Washington Thursday. They were given Ano apology and no invitation to Canada,@ Tristan Landry, a spokesman for the embassy, said.
He told us Awe were not even eligible for rehabilitation,@ Ms. Wright said. That process requires a would‑be entrant to wait five years, complete a questionnaire and pay hundreds of dollars in fees.
AIt's absurd,@ Ms. Chow said. She added that activists, both pro‑ and anti‑war should be free to enter Canada.
by
delia (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 111 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 3:05:42 PM
The FBI can come to Los Angeles and put a third of the city on that list, because they are criminal, illegal alien gang members. Somehow they get to skate, and if they get deported they walk back in the next day to murder women who tell them to stop spray painting gang symbols on walls, gun down cops, murder, rape, pillage and extort from their own.
If showing up at a rally and being arrested for peacefully demonstrating can get a person on such a list, who's list are we on for peacefully protesting everyday through the written word?
by
Sandy Sand (132 articles, 0 quicklinks, 169 diaries, 1262 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 3:31:24 PM
Medea & Ann only know they are on the list because Border officials told them. We have no way of knowing what lists we might be on. The President can engage in whatever surveillance HE decides (Cheney, actually) is useful in protecting the American people.
by
Robert Sargent (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 24 diaries, 302 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 8:50:46 PM
That two American anti-war activists were denied entry into Canada should come as no surprise. Canada, the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand are tied together in an intelligence network that has been in place for many decades. None of the four national dwarfs in this arrangement can stake out an independent foreign policy as long as this exists. The network not only provides the global eavesdropping quintet with military data but its large ears can also snoop into the world of business, providing financial rewards as well to selected players, at taxpayers' expense, naturally. U.S. pacifists who believe if Bush establishes detention camps in their honor that they can escape to Canada need to think again. And if pacifists or others cannot leave the United States at will, their country becomes their prison. One of the characteristics of dictatorship is that it throws up barriers for entry and egress, as Germans and Russians that attempted to leave those countries learned in the last century.
Sherwood Ross
by
Sherwood Ross (161 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 96 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 4:32:40 PM
There is a No Fly List at airports which also limits movement. It targets by names. often commonly shared. For instance, Senator Ted Kennedy had some difficulty. I read about one seven year old boy who his mother can't get removed from that list. Then there are the real "guilty" ones who need to attend meetings and network for peace.
by
Pat Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 5:38:56 PM
Anti-war means against the zioni$t agenda, so punishment is their solution. Only Israel benefits from these endless Middle East wars. Iraq is the beginning. As we commit war-crimes in Baghdad, the US gov't commits treason at home by opening mail, eliminating habeas corpus, using the judiciary to steal private lands, banning books like "America Deceived" from Amazon and Wikipedia, conducting warrantless wiretaps and engaging in illegal wars on behalf of AIPAC's 'money-men'. Soon, another US false-flag operation will occur (sinking of an Aircraft Carrier by Mossad) and the US will invade Iran.. Then we'll invade Syria, then Saudi Arabia, then Lebanon (again) then .... Final link (before Google Books bends to gov't demands and censors the title): http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0
by
Lorring II (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 86 comments)
on Monday, October 8, 2007 at 5:48:18 AM
Reader11722 states that "America Deceived" is banned by Amazon. This keeps turning up on many political sites and is not correct. I found it on Amazon easily. Sorry, No "Zionist plot" here. Nor is there one in keeping American protesters out of Canada--that's just plain denial of rights by the Bush crime family. Let's put the blame where it really goes, ok?
by
Ginger Chapman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 44 comments)
on Monday, October 8, 2007 at 6:16:50 AM
Buried beneath an avalanche of never ending government and media lies, most Americans don’t seem to sense the danger of rabid rightwing rule. The Rabid Right is without question the greatest threat Americans have ever faced, and yet many of our countrymen seem oblivious to the fact that our elected representatives ignore the will of the majority.
The majority of us don’t like this war of lies, upon lies to justify continuing an illegal, immoral crushing of people who never attacked us until we invaded their country. I recently read an article which stated that Dennis Kucinich was too idealistic to be elected president. I think they mislabeled principles as idealism, a tactic cunning controllers have employed forever. Principles is something most people have, but sociopaths don’t. The Rabid Right viciously portray our opposition to the war as unpatriotic, but it’s really a matter of principles. Principles means having a moral rule or standard of good behavior, and most of us know the difference between good and evil.
The Rabid Right is not concerned with the distinction between good and evil, they do as they please because they can. That’s the meaning of power. Wealth and power is their only concern. Might makes right is the basis of their principles.
It’s dangerous to challenge the powerful, but unchecked power grows like cancer.
With their keen insight into “human nature,” conservatives dismiss Christian values as foolish and idealistic. Of course, they don’t put it that way, they’re much too cunning for that. Instead they attack Christian values by renaming them socialism.
Are you fooled?
Egalitarianism by any other name, is still a lot loser to Christian values than Conservatism. How often have you seen “human nature” used as a spurious excuse to justify malevolent behavior practiced by some and but blamed on all. Calling it “human nature” makes it sound like we are all equally guilty, which we aren’t. Some of us are serial killers and mass murderers, but most are not.
We all have our faults, but Conservatives consistently reject decency for their own self-interest. The truth is, the concept of common good is abhorrent to them.
.
by
rabblerowzer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 227 comments)
on Monday, October 8, 2007 at 6:23:47 AM
