Standing On Guard For Thee: Developments

More on Alison Bodine, the American anti-war activist who was unlawfully and illegally arrested and detained by Canadian border agents and the RCMP.

First, her "admissibility" hearing has been rescheduled to September 28th - in the meantime, she remains in Limbo without her passport and driver's licence.

As I said before: Laws of the Criminal Code and the Customs Act were clearly broken here by the Canadian border agents and the RCMP - 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.

I also find it interesting that the "new" charge (before it remained unknown) held against Alison Bodine is that she "misrepresented" herself. Once again, let us look at the Law here, especially with regards to the Customs Act (emphasis mine):

Part VI, Article 99:

(1) If an officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person has entered Canada without presenting himself or herself in accordance with subsection 11(1), the officer may stop that person within a reasonable time after the person has entered Canada.

(2) An officer who stops a person referred to in subsection (1) may

(a) question the person; and
(b) in respect of goods imported by that person, examine them, cause to be opened any package or container of the imported goods and take samples of them in reasonable amounts.

And:

Part II, Article 11(1):

(1) Subject to this section, every person arriving in Canada shall, except in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, enter Canada only at a customs office designated for that purpose that is open for business and without delay present himself or herself to an officer and answer truthfully any questions asked by the officer in the performance of his or her duties under this or any other Act of Parliament.

This sounds to me like your typical "resisting arrest" bogus charge used by police officers who use abusive force to begin with.

Furthermore, since when does this calls for a "Canada-wide arrest warrant"? This further underlies my contention that there was no such warrant to begin with. Also, why was such a charge laid against her after she was allowed entry into Canada and acted upon only as she returned to the border crossing in order to leave the country? And why did they detain her a second time when she returned (again) to claim her passport, driver's licence and other possessions?

Ergo: these are trumped up charges to cover-up the abuse of power which occured here in the first place, in order to enact a "discouraging" intimidation tactic against dissent (in this case: for being against Canada's involvement in the Afghan War).

Once again: 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.

One last note here: how is it that the U.S. Embassy has remained conspicuously silent so far? (Rhetorical question here, folks ...)

Second, MPs Libby Davies (NDP; Vancouver East) and Bill Siksay (NDP; Burnaby-Douglas) have written a letter to Canada Security Minister Stockwell Day:

September 19, 2007

Hon. Stockwell Day

Canada Border Services Agency

By Fax: 613-995-1154

Dear Minister,

RE: BODINE, Alison

We are writing to express our grave concerns about the case of Alison Bodine, an American citizen who was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency and detained by the RCMP on September 13th. The official basis for the arrest and detention is that she “misrepresented” herself, but the underlying reason appears to be her prominence in the anti-war movement.

There will be a hearing on September 28th, at which point it will be determined whether Ms. Bodine will be banned from entering Canada for up to 2 years.

However, from our review of the situation, it appears that Ms. Bodine has not done anything illegal. In fact, she has crossed the United States/Canada border dozens of times without incident.

We are concerned that the arrest may be politically motivated, and based on Ms. Bodine’s activism. We respectfully urge your investigation and full disclosure into these allegations, so that she can defend herself fairly. Moreover, we urge the return of all her confiscated materials that were seized by the CBSA.


Sincerely,

(original signed by)

Libby Davies, MP (Vancouver East)

(original signed by)


Bill Siksay, MP (Burnaby-Douglas)

Things are moving indeed.

For day-to-day further developments, and for more information on how you may help, I direct you good folks to Alison Bodine Speaks Out.

We must draw the line here and now.

After the fact addendum/correction/precision: Pale (thank you!) alerted me to the fact that all immigration warrants are posted on the Canada-wide Canadian Police Information Centre ... hence, that is most likely what was meant initially by the border agents when they mentioned a "Canada-wide arrest warrant" upon arresting and detaining Alison Bodine. However, this does not in any way makes such an arrest any less suspect or illegal - i.e. all the questions being asked on this outrageous (and mendacious) affair remain to be answered ...


(Cross-posted at DKos, at NION and at A Creative Revolution)