ZGram - May 5, 2003 - "Update on EZ: Friday's aborted hearing" - Part II

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

May 5, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

This is Part II of the Zundel Deportation follow-up:

Herewith, Paul Fromm's write-up of Friday's events at the aborted 
bail hearing for Ernst Zundel:

[START]

Dear Free Speech Supporter:

	Friday dawned wet and stormy as free speech supporters 
converged from across upper New York State and Southern Ontario -- 
London, Hamilton, Toronto, Mississauga, Oshawa, Niagara Falls -- on 
the Niagara Falls site of what was supposed to be Ernst Zundel's 
detention review hearing.

At about 6:00 p.m., the evening before, Bill Reid, the immigration 
offcier in charge of the revisionist publisher's case, served him 
with an arrest warrant in his segregation cell in the Niagara 
Detention Centre. The arrest warrant was accompanied by  a rarely 
used certificatre signed by Solicitor General Wayne Easter and 
Immigration Minister Denis Coderre, alleging that Ernst Zundel was 
inadmissible to Canada on grounds of national security pursuant to 
Section 77.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

	The grounds for inadmissibility are truly preposterous. The 
Ministers' Certificate refers to Sections 34.1.c,d,e, and f. Here's 
was they say:

c) engaging in terrorism;

(d) being a danger to the security of Canada;

(e) engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the 
lives or safety of persons in Canada;

or

(f) being a member of an organization that there are reasonable 
grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts 
referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).

	And paragraphs a and b are:

(a) engaging in an act of espionage or an act of subversion against a 
democratic government, institution or process as they are understood 
in Canada;

(b) engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government;

So, Ernst Zundel, the pacifist publisher who has never been charged, 
much less convicted, of any act of violence in Canada or elsewhere, 
is accused to being a terrorist, being engaged in acts of violence 
that might endanger lives of persons in Canada, and of being engaged 
in espionage and subversion by force.

You might as well call Mother Teresa a 2 rupee Bengali hooker!

Zundel is a publisher, an ideas man, a communicator.  His writings, 
newsletters, tapes and videos are widely available. He has never 
preached, much less practised, violence.

This lying wicked set of accusations is typical of a corrupt 
government where truth is no defence.  Indeed, in a country where in 
human right law  truth is not defence, it's not surprising that truth 
doesn't matter.

The federal ministers, yielding to strident pressure from groups like 
the Canadian Jewish Congress, have invoked a draconian section of the 
Act to try to prevent Ernst Zundel from making a refugee claim.

The certificate must be referred to a judge of the Federal Court. He 
must decide within seven days of the referral whether the certificate 
is reasonable.  He may hold secret hearings, where neither Ernst 
Zundel nor his counsel can be present. He must provide Mr. Zundel 
with a summary of the secret hearings and Mr. Zundel may respond. 
There may also be public evidence. Section 78.e of the Act provides:

(e) on each request of the Minister or the Solicitor General of 
Canada made at any time during the proceedings, the judge shall hear 
all or part of the information or evidence in the absence of the 
permanent resident or the foreign national named in the certificate 
and their counsel if, in the opinion of the judge, its disclosure 
would be injurious to national security or to the safety of any 
person;

Furthermore, the judge may consider anything he chooses -- gossip, 
hearsay, anything: Section 78  says; " The following provisions 
govern the determination

(j) the judge may receive into evidence anything that, in the opinion 
of the judge, is appropriate, even if it is inadmissible in a court 
of law, and may base the decision on that evidence.

	The judge's decision is final. There is no appeal or judicial 
review. Section 80.3 of the Act is explicit:

(3) The determination of the judge is final and may not be appealed 
or judicially reviewed.

Ernst Zundel's incarceration is to be reviewed within two days of his 
having been served with the certificarte.

83. (1) Not later than 48 hours after the beginning of detention of a 
permanent resident under section 82, a judge shall commence a review 
of the reasons for the continued detention.

	The rain had stopped just before 9:00. Free speech supporters 
40 strong staged a spirited protest before and after the brief 
detention review hearing. Banners proclaimed: "Free Ernst Zundel" 
"Stop Secret Trials" and "Ernst Zundel Political Prisoner." Red 
Ensigns -- the flag of the real Canada, the Canada that still 
protected Anglo-Saxon freedoms like freedom of speech -- fluttered in 
the grey morning sky. Niagara Region Police looked on nervously.

Inside, an officious rent-a-cop, as part of an effort to intimidate 
supporters of the political prisoner, insisted that all who entered 
the hearing sign in.   Lawyer Doug Christie refused, saying he'd 
never had to sign in to a court in his life.  Some helpful bureaucrat 
signed in for him.

	Neither I as [Ernst Zündel's] legal representative nor Mr. 
Christie, now acting as his lawyer, was allowed to see Ernst Zundel 
privately before the hearing.   Zundel, carrying his cardboard box of 
documents, entered the room and was greeted with sustained applause. 
Just before the hearing began, Douglas Christie was presented with 
copies of the Certificate and the Arrest Warrant plunked on the 
counsel desk.

	So much for proper Notice.

	Crown counsel Donald MacIntosh moved for an adjournment, as 
any bail hearing would now have to be heard in Federal Court. Doug 
Christie agreed, but asked to be advised by Mr. Reid of the exact 
time he had served the Certificate on Ernst Zundel. This information 
would be important for the record to determine the deadline (48 
hours) by which a bail hearing must begin.

	MacIntosh snarled: "Certainly Mr. Reid is not going to answer 
any questions."

	The Adjudicator, a Cathie Simmie, an unimpressive frowsy lady 
who looked as if she'd just dropped in from the bowling alley, 
agreed.  To say she looked informal would be an understatement. She 
sported  a floppy, dull, baggy shirt, with leaf patterns amd 
linebacker shoulder pads, and a pair of slacks.

	Mr. Zundel had a few brief moments to talk to the press and 
supporters. He called Canada a "banana republic" and insisted that 
this speedy rush to deportation was caused by the defence attacks on 
the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service and its lawless 
behaviour, including its apparent collusion in an attempt to 
assassinate Mr. Zundel with a pipebomb in 1995.

Len Rudner of the Canadian Jewish Congress got into some heated 
arguments with Zundel supporters.

	Outside the hearing, the protest resumed with even more 
people joining. Two Iraqis grabbed signs. "What this all about?" one 
asked. "It's to support Ernst Zundel," he was told. "I'm for him," 
the man said and took a sign. His friend grinned when he saw a sign 
indicating that Canada, along with nations like North Korea, keeps 
writers in jail. He too hoisted a sign. The love of freedom, this 
grim Friday, was infectious!

	By 3:00 that afternoon, Doug Christie had arranged a 
conference call with a judge in Ottawa. On Monday, May 5 Ernst 
Zundel's bail hearing will begin, but without Ernst Zundel or Mr. 
Christie present. In one of those hearings reminiscent of the Court 
of the Star Chamber.   Mr. Justice Blais will hear secret testmony in 
Ottawa.

AT some point during the week, Mr. Christie will get a summary of the 
secret evidence. On Friday, May 9, in Osgoode Hall in Toronto at 
9:30, there will be a public hearing to determine whether dissident 
Ernst Zundel can be released on bail. Apparently, only after these 
hearings will the hearing into the reasonableness of the certificate 
begin.

[END]