[ql06] Re: CONSTITUTION: Zundel Argues Charter Rights Violated
- From: Mark Fathers <Mark.Fathers@xxxxxx>
- To: ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:45:01 -0500
And so it should heat up,
these security certificates allow for good
intentioned people to trample all over our charter
rights. Zundel is not the only one held under these
certificates.
We cannot allow the crown to arbitratrly decide who
is a threat.
Securiuty issues are incredibly complex - expecially
with todays asymetric threat - but if we allow
certificates to exist without a time expiry or some
additional control are we any better that a third
world dictatorship?
I am surprised that Zundel is only the first to
challenge the legislation (which in my humble
opinion cannot withstand Charter scrunity). There
isn't even a notwithstanding clause..
We need more challenges against this legislation.
Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Kennedy <2srk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 12:19 pm
Subject: [ql06] CONSTITUTION: Zundel Argues Charter
Rights Violated
> Here we go. . .
>
> As expected, Ernst Zundel's lawyer is challenging
the security
> certificate==20
> the government is using to keep him in jail. He's
also challenging
> the=20Immigration and Refugee Protection Act on
what look to be
> Charter s. 7=20
> grounds. The crown is countering with procedural
stalling, arguing
> Zundel's==20
> in the wrong court.
>
> This looks like it's going to heat up!
>
>
> Wednesday =BB November 19 =BB 2003
>
> Release jailed Holocaust-denier Zundel, charter
rights violated:
> lawyer says
>
> NANCY CARR
> Canadian Press
>
> Tuesday, November 18, 2003
>
> TORONTO (CP) - A defence lawyer for
Holocaust-denier Ernst Zundel
> asked a=20
> judge Tuesday for the German citizen's immediate
release because
> his=20detention violates the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms.
>
> Zundel, who has no criminal record in Canada and
is not facing any
> charges,==20
> has been in solitary confinement since February
after being
> deported to=20
> Canada for overstaying a visitor's visa in the
United States. He
> is being=20
> held in jail on a security certificate while the
courts determine,
> in a=20
> separate proceeding, whether he is a security risk
to Canada and
> should be=
> =20
> deported to Germany.
>
> "This man, who has been a resident in Canada
without committing a
> crime,=20has been certified as being a danger to
Canada," defence
> lawyer Peter=20
> Lindsay said Tuesday morning in the Superior Court
of Justice.
>
> "In Germany, he will likely be jailed for
Holocaust denials
> despite being=20
> exonerated by Canadian courts."
>
> Lindsay argued that the 2001 Immigration and
Refugee Protection
> Act, under=
> =20
> which Zundel is being held, is unconstitutional
because, among
> other=20reasons, it denies the detainee an appeal
and allows for
> "secret=20proceedings" between the Crown and a judge.
>
> Zundel, 64, dressed in blue pants and a green
suede jacket,
> acknowledged=20his supporters as they filed into
court, but he did
> not address the court=20
> Tuesday. Judge Mary Lou Benotto allowed Zundel,
once unhandcuffed,
> to sit=20
> at a desk behind his lawyer rather than in the
prisoner's box so
> that he=20
> and Lindsay could confer.
>
> Lindsay referred to his client as "an unpopular
man, even a
> notorious man."
>
> "The reason for that is essentially he has denied
the Holocaust,"
> Lindsay=20said.
>
> The proceeding - called an application for a writ
of habeas corpus
> - is=20
> what Lindsay described as an "extreme remedy" used
to protect a
> person who=
> =20
> is unlawfully confined. It was expected to take no
more than two
> days,=20after which Zundel could be released from
jail.
>
> Crown attorney Douglas MacIntosh, however, said
Superior Court was
> not the=
> =20
> place to hear Zundel's case because Parliament has
indicated in
> the past=20
> that Federal Court is where immigration issues
should be heard.
>
> He asked that Benotto stay the request for
Zundel's release,
> arguing that=20
> the ongoing proceedings under Federal Court Judge
Pierre Blais
> would=20eventually yield a decision.
>
> "Parliament has contemplated that the Federal
Court of Canada has
> exclusive==20
> jurisdiction over security cases," MacIntosh told
Benotto.
>
> "This court would be singularly at a disadvantage
in evaluating
> the various=
> =20
> considerations Parliament has taken into account
in drafting this=20
> legislation."
>
> MacIntosh also stressed that as a permanent
resident, Zundel does
> not have=
> =20
> the same rights as Canadian citizens.
>
> "The most fundamental principle of justice in the
immigration
> context is=20
> non-citizens don't have the unqualified right to
enter or remain in=20
> Canada," MacIntosh said.
>
> He added that the delay in Zundel's case was
largely because one
> of his=20
> defence lawyers, Doug Christie, has had a full
schedule and has
> been too=20
> busy to appear in court.
>
> If Zundel is not released after Benotto makes her
ruling, the
> detention=20review which is trying to determine
whether he is a
> risk to Canadian=20
> security is scheduled to resume in Federal Court
on Dec. 10. The
> review has=
> =20
> been proceeding for more than six months. The
length of that
> proceeding is=
> =20
> another reason why Zundel's detention is
unconstitutional, Lindsay
> said.
> When he was jailed in February, Zundel applied for
refugee status
> in=20Canada. He was denied release by the
Immigration and Refugee
> Board three=20
> times before Ottawa suspended the application May
2, one day after
> the=20security certificate was issued.
>
> Zundel, who has lived in Canada since 1958, fled
to Tennessee to
> be with=20
> his wife before a January 2002 ruling by the
Canadian Human Rights=20
> Commission that a website he controls spreads
anti-Semitic messages.
>
> He remains in solitary confinement at Toronto's
Metro West
> Detention Centre.
>
> Lindsay was scheduled to respond to the Crown's
arguments
> Wednesday. It was=
> =20
> not known when Benotto would render a decision.
> =A9 Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press
>
>
>
>
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