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Secret Trial Detainee Mahmoud Jaballah Cannot be Deported to Torture: Federal Court

Many thanks to my good friend Matthew at Homes Not Bombs for sending the article below.

Federal Court Rules Secret Trial Detainee Mahmoud Jaballah Cannot be Deported to Torture
Judge Does not Close the Door on Other Deportations to Torture
Secret Trial Security Certificate Against Jaballah Upheld

TORONTO, OCTOBER 17, 2006 -- In a significant Federal Court ruling, Judge Andrew Mackay has ordered that secret trial detainee Mahmoud Jaballah, held without charge or bail since August 2001, "may not be deported to any country where there is a serious risk to his life or of torture or cruel and unusual punishment." That decision dovetails with another released today, upholding the security certificate that has kept Jaballah detained without charge more than five years. A bail hearing for Mr. Jaballah continues tomorrow (Tuesday, October 17) at 2 pm at Federal Court, 180 Queen Street West, in Toronto.

While Jaballah and his family are no doubt relieved that he is not about to be placed on a plane to an Egyptian torture chamber, he nonetheless remains in legal limbo, since Mackay also found that under the security certificate legislation, Jaballah is now officially an inadmissable person to Canada, and needs to be deported, somehow, somewhere, as soon as is humanly possible. Jaballah is detained at
Guantanamo Bay North at Millhaven Penitentiary near Kingston, Ontario.

THE SURESH QUESTION
Following the conclusion of the public portion of the largely secret security certificate proceeding this past September, Mackay asked counsel for the government and Mr. Jaballah for submissions on "the Suresh question." That's the loophole from a landmark Canadian Supreme Court decision that government officials pursuing deportations to torture have interpreted to mean that certain "exceptional circumstances" may justify such deportations, even though they violate Canadian commitments to the Convention Against Torture, among other legal instruments to which Canada is a party.

After quoting Justice Denis O'Connor's writing in the Arar Inquiry to the effect that "the infliction of torture, for any purpose, is so fundamental a violation of human dignity, that it can never be legally justified," Mackay notes that the prohibition on torture exists in Canadian law and international treaties and covenants that Canada has signed.

However, Mackay does not come right out and close the door on the general issue of deportation to torture. The government at this point is pursuing deportation to torture for the other four men subject to security certificates, and may well take heart, unfortunately, in the fact that while Mackay seems to have ruled out that possibility of deporting Jaballah under the "exceptional circumstances" argument, he does not make a ruling that deportation to torture can NEVER be justified. Indeed, he interprets it to mean that while "deportation to a country where there is a substantial risk of torture would infringe an individual's rights...in my view, infringement generally would require that the exceptional case would have to be justified under s. 1 [of the Charter)." Hence, by allowing for certain cases of "infringement" of rights, Mackay leaves open the door that the government so wants to widen with respect to deportation to torture.

UPHOLDING THE CERTIFICATE
Given the convoluted manner in which these security certificate cases have proceeded, reading the Mackay decision is an exercise in frustration and quibbling. He finds the certificate reasonable based on huge assumptions made by the government about Mr. Jaballah's phone calls overseas as well as on secret evidence neither Jaballah nor his lawyers was ever able to see, much less challenge. Jaballah won against a prior certificate in 1999, yet another one was issued against him in 2001 based on a new CSIS interpretation of a government case already dismissed as not
credible.

On the one hand, for example, Mackay says an inference COULD be drawn that by upholding the certificate, Mr. Jaballah, if allowed to remain in Canada "without restraints, would constitute a danger to the security of the country. Yet there is no case argued that he has been personally involved in violence. I conclude that the facts of this case do not create an exceptional circumstance that would warrant Mr. Jaballah's deportation to face torture abroad. This does not mean that he may not be deported. ....But deportation to Egypt or to any country where and so long as there is a substantial risk that he would be tortured or worse would violate his rights as a human being, guaranteed by s. 7 of the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms]. The [Minister of Citizenship and Immigration] may not exercise discretion in a manner that would violate Mr. Jaballah's rights under the Charter."

While this is a welcome sentiment with respect to deportation to torture, it is not matched with a similar concern over Mr. Jaballah's rights when it comes to the issues of indefinite detention without charge, use of secret evidence, and the construction of these cases under the precept that anything not normally admissable in a court of law can be entered at these hearings. Hence, at the conclusion of the September
hearing, a government lawyer stood up and proclaimed, without proffering a shred of evidence, that Mr. Jaballah was a skilled terrorist "communications relay" because he spared no time getting a phone when he got his first apartment in Toronto and, in addition to using a borrowed cell phone, he "procured" a fax machine and also had occasion to surf the internet. Muslims with cellphones and email, oh my!

The weakness of these cases was a major focus of Supreme Court hearings on security certificates last June. Jaballah, along with fellow secret trial detainees Mohammad Mahjoub (held since June, 2000), Hassan Almrei (since October, 2001), Mohamed Harkat (held Dec. 2002-June, 2006, now under draconian house arrest) and Adil Charkaoui (held May, 2003-February 2005, now under draconian conditions of "release"), now
awaits word on whether the kangaroo courts that they have been subject to will be declared unconstitutional by Canada's highest court.

In the meantime, Jaballah, a father of six, will likely find out in the next few days whether the government of Canada will appeal the decision not to deport him to torture. A more detailed report from court proceedings, including the refusal of a CSIS witness to acknowledge the systematic use of torture in Egypt and Syria, even in light of the conclusions of the Arar Inquiry, will be forthcoming shortly.

(More information: Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, tasc@web.ca,
416-651-5800)

posted by Annamarie at 1:05 AM | 1 comment(s)

Toronto: Oct. 25: Fantastic, Free Anti-War Screenings at Innis Hall, 7 pm, Homes not Bombs!

Development and Peace, Homes not Bombs, and Science for Peace Present the Canadian premiere screening of the award winning-film "Camden 28: What Would You Do to Stop a War?"

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 7 pm
Innis Town Hall
University of Toronto
(corner of St. George and Sussex, just south of Bloor Street)

"What do you do when a child is on fire, in a war that was a mistake? What do you do? Write a letter?" -- Msgr. Michael Doyle, one of the Camden 28, who faced 47 years in prison for destroying government draft files during the war against Vietnam.

What would YOU do to stop a war?
"Camden 28" is an award-winning film by Anthony Giacchino in a Canadian premiere presentation. It documents the efforts of 28 women and men who came together and, in an act of hope, worked to destroy draft files to keep young men from going to kill and be killed in Vietnam. Faced with 47 years in prison, they stood their ground in court, winning an unprecedented acquittal. The film is a remarkable document that explores the faith-based strands of resistance that were a common feature of the late 1960s and early 1970s (among them, perhaps most famously, the Berrigan brothers). The draft board raids in total destroyed almost 1 milion draft files, exposed the FBI's CONITELPRO program, and landed a number of Catholic priests on
the FBI's most wanted list, all for trying to respond to the challenges posed by living out Gospel nonviolence in a time of terror. The film mixes archival footage with contemporary interviews of participants and re-enactcments of the trial they faced.

The film will be preceded by a new short called "Mothers Day at Wescam", that documents two days of nonviolent resistance actions at the Burlington, Ontario-based manufacturer of targetting systems for some of the deadliest weapons systems on the planet. Wescam is part of L-3 Communications Canada, the #1 military contractor in the country.

At a time when we are faced with wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, and countless other locations around the globe, the films challenge us to explore what we can do, here in Canada, to end the cycle of violence right here in our own backyard.

Join us for a compelling evening of inspiring filmmaking.
For more information: Homes not Bombs, (416) 651-5800

ALSO UPCOMING
1. Sat., Oct, 28: Country Music Fans Against War welcomes the Dixie Chicks to the Air Canada Centre. Join a welcoming committee that will hand out flyers to the thousands of Dixie Chicks fans who will be coming to the concerts. The Dixie Chicks have taken a lot of heat for speaking out against the war in Iraq, including having their music banned throughout North America from radio airplay, as well as death threats, but as they say in their new CD, they are not ready to make nice. "I'm not ready to make nice, I'm not ready to back down, I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time to go round and round and round..." All people, even those who do not care for twang and twin fiddles in their music, are welcome.

2. Tuesday, Nov. 7, 12 Noon-1 pm, Join us for our monthly vigil at Moss Park Armoury, Queen and Jarvis. It must be turned from a war training facility into affordable, not-for-profit housing!

3. Friday, November 10, 7 pm: Reel Activism Presents "Conviction," the amazing story of three nuns who performed a symbolic act of resistance on a nuclear missile silo and were sentenced to over three years in prison. Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor Street West, at Huron St. (2 blocks east of Spadina subway).

9. November 18: A training session in nonviolent direct action in preparation for a Nov. 20 direct action at L-3 Wescam. Those interested in meeting beforehand to work on some of the artistic and theatrical elements of our action, based in part on the theme "war is a preventable disease," should contact tasc@web.ca (For example, we would like to make large papier mache syringes to inoculate L-3 executives against militarism).

10. Monday, Nov. 20, late morning: Legal Rally, Street Theatre, and Mass Trespass Nonviolent Direct Action at L-3 Wescam in Burlington, Ontario.

Join affinity groups from across Ontario as we seek to transform L-3 Wescam from a war profiteer into a company that actually makes stuff to help people.

posted by Annamarie at 12:46 AM | 0 comment(s)

Steven Staples: Missile Defence and Space Weapons...

Steven Staples of the Polaris Institute and Ceasefire.ca is on a 5-week speaking tour throughout Canada. This week he will be in the BC interior: Castlegar (Tues), Grand Forks (Wed), Penticton and Kelowna (Thurs) and Kamloops (Fri). Next week, Steven will be in southern Ontario, including my city of Brampton. (see dates and locations below).

The meetings will raise the alarm over recent overtures to the federal government to join missile defence and embrace the weaponization of space.


Contact information:

Steven Staples

Director of Security Programs

Polaris Institute

* New address *

30 Metcalfe Street, Suite 500

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5L4

CANADA

t. 613 565-9449 (direct)

c. 613 290-2695

f. 613 237-3359

e. sstaples@polarisinstitute.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Liberals should stay out of bed with Harper, Bush

(October 16, 2006 — Toronto) For the Liberal party to change its position on participation in the ballistic missile defence program is complete folly, said political organizer and author Steven Staples today in response to prominent Liberal Frank McKenna's suggestion that the party switch its position on missile defence.


"Canadians remain unconvinced of this dangerous and expensive system," said Mr. Staples who was instrumental in stopping Canadian participation in 2005. "Paul Martin made the right decision not to join, so why would the Liberals would want to climb into bed with Stephen Harper and George Bush?"

Mr. Staples is the author of the just published Missile Defence: Round One, which explains how an unlikely coalition of Canadian parliamentarians, peace activists, and ordinary citizens were able to fight the missile defence plan. Mr. Staples will be at several speaking engagements in Ontario next week to talk about this vital issue to Canadians.



Author tour schedule


Oct. 23, 2:30, London, ON, Natural Sciences Theatre 1, University of Western Ontario, hosted by Department of Political Science and the Centre for American Studies, University of Western Ontario

Oct. 23, 7:00, Woodstock, ON, CAW Hall, 126 Beale Street, hosted by Oxford Coalition for Social Justice

Oct. 23, 12:30, Hamilton, ON, Togo Salmon Hall, Room 719, 1280 Main Street West, hosted by McMaster University

Oct. 25, 2:30, Toronto, ON, 305 York Lanes, York University, hosted by University Consortium on the Global South (UCGS) and Ceasefire.ca

Oct. 25, 7:00, Brampton, ON, Four Corners Library, hosted by Council of Canadians Brampton Chapter and Ceasefire.ca

Oct. 26, 5:00, Toronto, ON, Book launch, Society of Friends (Quaker Meeting House), 60 Lowther Avenue, hosted by James Lorimer & Company, Canadian Pugwash Group and Ceasefire.ca


About the author


STEVEN STAPLES is a veteran political organizer from the peace and anti-globalization movements. >From his office at the Polaris Institute in Ottawa, he was one of the central backroom – and sometimes front-page – voices that led the political resistance to Paul Martin’s plan to put Canada in Bush’s missile defence system. Known on Parliament Hill, in newsrooms, and on the street, Staples is a key figure in Canada’s peace movement.


1-55028-929-2, 6"x 9", paperback, 248 pages, October 10, 2006, $19.95, James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers, www.lorimer.ca



Available at Amazon.ca and Chapters.ca.

***

posted by Annamarie at 12:13 AM | 2 comment(s)

October 28 Mississauga Day of Action

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posted by Annamarie at 11:43 PM | 0 comment(s)

Take Action on open-net pen salmon farming!

Final opportunity


Tomorrow and Thursday, October 17 and 18, are the final public hearings of the Provincial Government’s Special Committee on Aquaculture.

Come and support those speaking for change in the current open-net pen salmon farming practices. In Vancouver, Jay Ritchlin from the David Suzuki Foundation will be speaking at 10:20 am, and there will be speakers from Chile and from closed containment interests.

Wednesday October 18, 10 am – 5 pm, Saturna Island Room,
Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, 900 West Georgia Street Vancouver

In Victoria, you can come to the hearings from 10 – 5 at the Douglas Fir Committee Room in the Parliament Buildings.

You also still have a chance to voice your concerns. Written submissions will be accepted until October 31. Send letters, faxes or email to:

Craig James, Clerk Assistant and Clerk of Committees
Room 224, Parliament Buildings
Victoria BC
V8V 1X4
Fax: 250-356-8172
e-mail: Aquaculture@leg.bc.ca

posted by Annamarie at 10:28 PM | 0 comment(s)

OCAP RADIO: Special Programming: Begins on CKLN88.1FM

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty(OCAP) has started Friday evening broadcasts on CKLN 88.1FM. Broadcasts will include regular updates on the Six Nations Land Reclamation and on anti-poverty news.

OCAP Radio airs each Friday evening at 6:30pm on CKLN 88.1FM, broadcasting as part of daily Word of Mouth programming out of downtown Toronto. Beginning Friday, October 13th, we will feature special programming, as part of CKLN fundFEST 2006.

We will also bring you the latest on the Reclamation Site in Six Nations and our regular updates on anti-poverty news.

Listen via live streaming on the InterNet at www.ckln.fm or on the dial in Toronto at 88.1FM, at 6:30pm to hear ...



FRIDAY OCTOBER 20th:
Feature interview with Justin Akers Chacon, San Diego-based co-author of the new book, No One Is Illegal, and Toronto-based lawyer and immigrant rights activist, Amina Sherazee, about migrant struggles across the continent. We will be giving away copies of this new book...

OCAP Radio on CKLN 88.1FM

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More about ‘No One Is Illegal’, Haymarket Books, 2006:

In "No One Is Illegal", Mike Davis and Justin Akers Chacón expose the racism of anti-immigration vigilantes and put a human face on the immigrants who daily risk their lives to cross the border to work in the United States. Countering the mounting chorus of anti-immigrant voices, "No One Is Illegal" debunks the leading ideas behind the often violent right-wing backlash against immigrants, revealing their deep roots in U.S. history, and documents the new civil rights movement that has mounted protests around the country to demand justice and dignity for immigrants.

"No One Is Illegal" features moving, evocative photos from award-winning photographer Julián Cardona.

Justin Akers Chacón is a professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies in San Diego, California. He has contributed to the International Socialist Review and the book "Immigration: Opposing Viewpoints".

Mike Davis is a historian, activist, and author of many books, including "City of Quartz", "The Monster at Our Door", and "Planet of Slums". Davis teaches in the Department of History at the University of California at Irvine.

Julián Cardona was born in 1960 in Zacatecas, Mexico, and migrated to the border city of Juárez with his family as a small child. He worked as a technician in the maquiladora industry before becoming a photojournalist in 1993. In 2004, Cardona received a Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation.

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More about CKLN:

Located at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto, CKLN provides original programming all day and night, every day of the year. Our programming is produced almost entirely by a volunteer staff of over 200, who come to CKLN from every neighbourhood and community of Toronto.

The guiding policies of CKLN FM prohibit material or comment that is racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, anti- Semitic or that maligns disabled peoples, working class, poor and unemployed people.

Further to the above, CKLN strives to:

Be a forum for extensive cultural and historical contextualization and development of musical, artistic and other cultural expressions, along with socially progressive ideas which arise from communities, constituencies, sectors and individuals who are socially, politically and economically disadvantaged and whose access to public communications and media is thereby limited. Specifically women, people of colour, First Nations peoples, lesbians and gay men, students, working people, poor people, disabled people - among others. In particular those within these communities who are the least publicly represented and who are working for visionary and innovative social changes are prioritized.

Engage in honest and fair assessments of the work of community and non-profit groups in areas of social, political, economic, scientific and cultural development with the groups themselves participating towards more effective and integrated efforts in the future.

Connect and link local communities and constituencies with the work and expressions of their counterparts in other parts of North America and around the world.

Ensure reasonable access to training in radio broadcasting for communities and constituencies as well as individuals who propose to produce programming that is representative, creative and forward looking.

Provide Toronto's diverse and rapidly changing audience with the opportunity to hear a wide range of differing cultural expressions and thereby encourage communication, solidarity and cooperation between and among oppressed communities and constituencies.


CKLN fundFEST 2006
CKLN 88.1FM Community Radio:

Help "Liberate Your Radio" by supporting independent, nonprofit, community-based media!

For over 20 years, 100s of volunteer programmers have broadcast their best musical taste, most insightful interviews, and provocative commentary from CKLN. Infused with a spirit of social justice and a challenge to the powers-the-be, CKLN is a vital voice in Toronto's media landscape.

We rely on listener donations for one third of our operating income. That's why it's important to support CKLN's annual fundraising drive.

We recognize our donors with quality gift incentives, to encourage you to make your pledge. And this year's grand prize draw is fantastic.

First prize -- a socially and ecologically conscious vacation for two to Costa Rica!

Brought to you by Gap Adventures, Travel CUTS, and the Continuing Education Students Association of Ryerson. Or, you could win a brand new $500 Devinci St. Tropez hybrid bike courtesy of CycleTherapy.

Pledges must be paid by December 31, 2006, to be entered into the draw.

posted by Annamarie at 12:25 AM | 3 comment(s)

Italian TV: Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip

A report by an Italian investigative team asserts that Israel is using a new experimental weapon in attacks on Palestinians launched by remote-controlled drones in the Gaza Strip. The experimental weapon, it is alleged, is similar to a new explosive device that the US military has developed for creating highly destructive explosions within a small radius. The intended result is that bombs can be more selectively targeted at a small area without risk of so-called "collateral damage," or unintended victim-bystanders. In practice, however, the new weapon has resulted in appalling wounds to those not killed by its explosion.

Italian probe: Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip

Meron Rapoport

October 11, 2006

An investigative report to be aired on Italian television Wednesday raises the possibility that Israel has used an experimental weapon in the Gaza Strip in recent months, causing especially serious physical injuries, such as amputated limbs and severe burns.

The weapon is similar to one developed by the U.S. military, known as DIME, which causes a powerful and lethal blast, but only within a relatively small radius.

The Italian report is based on the eyewitness accounts of medical doctors in the Strip, as well as tests carried out in an Italian laboratory. The investigative team is the same one that exposed, several months ago, the use by U.S. forces in Iraq of phosphorous bombs, against Iraqi rebels in Faluja.

Israel Air Force Maj.-Gen (res.) Yitzhak Ben-Israel, formerly head of the IDF's weapons-development program, told the Italian reporters that "one of the ideas [behind the weapon] is to allow those targeted to be hit without causing damage to bystanders or other persons."

Read full article here: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/772894.html

posted by Annamarie at 11:42 PM | 0 comment(s)

Tomdispatch.com and Bush's "Mission Unaccomplished"

posted by Annamarie at 9:44 PM | 0 comment(s)

October 28 - Troops out of Afghanistan events

On Saturday October 28th, the Canadian Peace Alliance is organising rallies across Canada, calling for the troops out of Afghanistan. Toronto, Mississauga and Hamilton are listed below. Click here to find events in your area.

Toronto - March and Rally

Troops out of Afghanistan
Saturday October 28th
1 pm
US Consulate (360 University ave)

for more info see: www.nowar.ca
or e-mail stopthewar@sympatico.ca.


Mississauga, ON

Bring the Troops Home Now!

October 28th - 10:30 AM

Revolution Square - Hurontario and Dundas

Organized by the Mississauga Coalition for Peace and Justice
www.mcpj.org
or mcpj-at-resist.ca

Hamilton, ON

Bring the Troops Home Now!

Rally at Hamilton City Hall
1:00 PM - Saturday October 28th

Endorsed by: The Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, Burlington Association for Nuclear Disarmament, McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice, Hamilton District Labour Council, Hamilton Steelworkers area council, Muslim Association of Hamilton and many more.

For More info contact: Ann at 905-383-2156 or Brendan at stonebs-at-mcmaster.ca

posted by Annamarie at 8:59 PM | 1 comment(s)

North American Union (NAU) - How to end USA, Canada & Mexico

COOPRADIO.ORG: North American Union (NAU) - How to end USA, Canada & Mexico

WHEN: Monday Oct. 16, 2006 at Noon - 1 PM PT
WHERE: COOP RADIO, CFRO 102.7 FM
LISTEN LIVE:http://www.coopradio.org

TOPIC: A special 2 1/2 hour program on the topic of the NORTH AMERICAN UNION. The NAU is the plan initiated March 23, 2005 between the heads of state of the US, Canada, and Mexico to integrate the three countries under a common currency and common governing aparatus.

GUESTS: Connie Fogal, leader of the Canadian Action Party; Mel Hurtig, publisher;
and Steven Yates, U.S. author of the Matrix series of articles.

HOSTS: Alfred Lambremont Webre, Jeff & Diana Jewell, and Don Nordin.

Websites:
CAP: Connie Fogal
http://www.canadianactionparty.ca
Vive Le Canada: Mel Hurtig
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/index.php?topic=melhurtig
Steven Yates
http://itshappeninghere.blogspot.com/

WAKE-UP WITH CO-OP MON.-WED.- FRI. 7-9 AM PT

MONDAY BROWNBAGGER MON. Noon 1 PM PT

LISTENER-SPONSORED CO-OP RADIO is broadcast across Canada on the Star Choice satellite system on channel 845. Co-op radio, CFRO fm is located in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Its frequency in the Vancouver area is 102.7 MHz and we are also found on various cable frequencies in most major cities throughout British Columbia.

RealAudio and Program information for radio station CFRO can be found on the internet at http://www.coopradio.org

Listener phone-in: Call Coop Radio on-air with your questions and comments at (604) 684-7561.

PUT THIS DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR.

Date and Time of Program: Monday, October 16, noon to 2:30 pm

**************

This is a special fundraising program. We invite you to phone in at 604-684-8494 with a pledge or to buy an inexpensive annual membership. Your monetary aid enables our program and our radio station to keep on the air,
as we are almost 100% listener-supported.

==============
Building a North American Community

Report of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America

What follows is a brief summary of the report. Note the involvement of the Council on Foreign Relations in the development of this report and its policy "recommendations". For further background information about the CFR and its role in establishing the one world system, see our Shadow Government section. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for the complete report, which follows the summary. The report is in portable document format (pdf) and must be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Report originally located at
http://www.usembassycanada.gov/content/can_usa/northamericancommunity_TF_final.pdf

Special thanks to Connie Fogal of the Canadian Action Party, who wrote the summary below and to Wanda Benton of the PRC-Digest for calling it to our attention.

Summary:

The North American continent is being transformed from three sovereign nations (Canada, USA, Mexico) into one regional corporate power base, the North American Union.

Unlike the creation of the European Union, there is no public political/ academic discourse on the merits, or pros and cons of a North American Union building up to a vote within each nation as to the wish of the people to join such a union. Instead the union is being created by stealth, is already well on its way to fruition, and is being imposed on us by our own "elected" representatives and government with no opposition.

The ultimate enforcement mechanism for the North American Union is a police state. The tools for the police state are "anti-terrorist" laws. Anti Terrorist laws are a ruse to strip the people of their liberties in order to prevent dissent. The Orwellian justification is "security", "safety".

The plan of this Canada-U.S.-Mexico task force is to establish a continent-wide customs union with a common approach to trade, energy, immigration, law enforcement and security that would virtually eliminate existing national borders. The task force released its recommendations for a common North American in May 17/18, 2005.There was minor reference to it in mainstream media - no headline presentation.

The recommendations include:

a common security perimeter by 2010
a North American Border Pass with biometric identifiers.
a unified border and expanded customs facilities
a single economic space
a common external tariff.
seamless movement of goods within North America.
A North American energy strategy -as a regional alternative to Kyoto.
Review those sectors of NAFTA that were excluded.
A North American regulatory plan that would include "open skies and open roads" and a unified approach on food, health, and the environment.
Expand temporary worker programs and create a "North American preference" for immigration for citizens of North America.
A North American Investment Fund to build infrastructure to connect Mexico's poorer regions in the south to the market to the north.
Restructure and reform Mexico's public finances.
Fully develop Mexican energy resources (Mexico wisely kept their energy out of NAFTA)
A permanent tribunal for trade and investment disputes.( Here is where any vestige of democratic government disappears)
An annual North American summit meeting.
A Tri-national Competition Commission with a common approach to trade remedies.
Scholarships for a network of Centers for North American Studies. (To serve the corporations)
==============

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JUNE 6, 2006
Legislators and civil society groups of the North American region call for halt to Security and
Prosperity Partnership and replacement of NAFTA

Ottawa At a press conference today, legislators and civil society networks from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico unveil a collective plan to bring an end to deep integration and replace NAFTA with a people-centred trade model. "We must reshape trade agreements in North America to ensure rising standards of living for our peoples," says U.S. Congresswoman, Marcy Kaptur (Democrat, Ohio). The groups met in Ottawa on June 5, 2006, to extend the work of the first North American Forum held in Washington in May 2005. This second forum brought progressive legislators together with representatives from civil society networks Red Mexican de Accin frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC) of Mexico, Canadian organization Common Frontiers, le Rseau Qubcois sur l'intgration continentale (RQIC), and the Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART) from the United States.
"NAFTA has aggravated poverty across the continent," says Pierre-Yves Serinet of RQIC.

According to NDP Trade Critic, Peter Julian, there is no doubt that under NAFTA most Canadians are poorer. We have been fighting to make adjustments and now it is clear that NAFTA has to be replaced. It is not working for the vast majority of inhabitants of North America. It has failed on the bottom line."

In anticipation of the March 2007 "Three Amigos Summit" that will be held in Ottawa, the new group will create a North American secretariat and introduce simultaneous legislation in Mexico, the U.S and Canada to replace NAFTA. It will build opportunities for public engagement on the issue of continental integration.
Rosario Quispes of RMALQ describes the Security and Prosperity Partnership, as "a distorted, more dangerous version of NAFTA." "We need to work together to stop the Security Prosperity Partnership because the negotiations have been anti-democratic, without transparency and promise to benefit only the business elite of the region," says Victor Suarez, Member of the Mexican Parliament (Partido de la Revolucin Democratica, D.F.).
Civil society groups applaud participating parliamentarians for involving the public
Something the governments of the three states have failed to do. "We want to work to with civil society to develop another model of integration that will ensure prosperity for all," says Bloc Qubcois MP, Pierre Paquette.

For more information, please contact:
Mooa Lahbabi, Parliamentary Assistant to Peter Julian: 613-222-4074 or juliap@parl.gc.ca
Nancy Gagnon, Office of Pierre Paquette: 613-996-6910
Meera Karunananthan, Common Frontiers: 613.795.8685 or meera@canadians.org
Pierre-Yves Serinet, RQIC: 514-705-7820

=====================================

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Mr. Peter Julian (BurnabyNew Westminster, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, far from standing up for Canada, the Conservative government is waving the white flag of surrender.

We see this with the softwood lumber sellout. We see this with the Wheat Board sellout, and we see it in the secret Banff meetings. This government is prepared to give away everything in its endless efforts of capitulation to the Bush government, with ministers committed to giving away even more of Canada under the so-called security and prosperity partnership. Remodelling Canada as a carbon copy of the United States means lowering our quality of life and Canadian standards in food safety, health, labour rights, transportation and the environment.

The NDP is pressing for full disclosure of everything the Conservative government is doing to sell us out, just like the Liberals did, and diminish our ability to build the society Canadians deserve.

In the upcoming election, Canadians will have a clear choice between the sellout versions of Canada by the Conservatives and Liberals and a vision of a new, proud, independent Canada promoted by the NDP.

==========================================

Documents Reveal Bush/CFR "Administrative Coup D'etat" of America
Bush 'super-state' agenda to create American Union is now official

Steve Watson, Paul Watson & Alex Jones | September 28 2006

Journalist Jerome Corsi has received the first documents pertaining to a FOIA request asking for full disclosure of the SPP office in its activities towards creating a Pan American Union.

According to a report by World Net Daily, the documents reveal that the Bush administration is running a "shadow government" without congressional oversight in conjunction with Canada and Mexico under the guise of a program "to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater cooperation."

Corsi asserts that a wide range of US administrative law is being re-written in stealth under this program to "integrate" and "harmonize" with administrative law in Mexico and Canada.

The documents contain references to upwards of 13 working groups within an entire organized infrastructure that has drawn from officials within most areas of administrative government including U.S. departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Health and Human Services, and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Corsi has further reported that at a recent high-level confab in Banff, an assistant U.S. secretary of state, Thomas A. Shannon , chaired a panel that featured a presentation by Prof. Robert Pastor, author of a book promoting the development of a North American union as a regional government and the adoption of the amero as a common monetary currency to replace the dollar and the peso.

The open plan to merge the US with Mexico and Canada and create a Pan American Union networked by a NAFTA Super Highway has long been a Globalist brainchild but its very real and prescient implementation on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations has finally been reported on by mainstream news outlets.

After nearly ten years of reporting by Alex Jones and the rest of the Patriot Movement, the establishment press is finally covering serious reports on the plan for a Pan-American Union, based on recent articles by Human Events columnist Jerome Corsi.

Back in June World Net Daily reported ,

"The White House has established working groups, under the North American Free Trade Agreement office in the Department of Commerce, to implement the Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP, signed by President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Texas, March 23, 2005."

The article even carries the admission that the Council on Foreign Relations, often the bane of sophomoric stereotypical caricatures of paranoid conspiracy theorists, played a fundamental role in crafting the policy for the homogenization of the US, Canada and Mexico.

"Many SPP working groups appear to be working toward achieving specific objectives as defined by a May 2005 Council on Foreign Relations task force report, which presented a blueprint for expanding the SPP agreement into a North American union that would merge the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a new governmental form."

This admission is as historical as it is concerning - the CFR moulds the foundational policy for the elimination of American sovereignty and it is passed as executive law within weeks. It is once again evident that the true vestiges of power lie within the ranks of the CFR and the Trilateral Commission who act on policy decided upon by the big brother of multinational semi-secret steering societies, the Bilderberg Group.

Up until five or six years ago the CFR largely operated in the shadows, only publishing its mouthpiece Foreign Affairs, and any inference that the group held sway in US politics or even existed was met by heckles of incredulity from the establishment media. Now the Associated Press openly reports their guiding hand in the drives towards global government.

The framework on which the American Union is being pegged is the NAFTA Super Highway (pictured) , a four football-fields-wide leviathan that stretches from southern Mexico through the US up to Montreal Canada.

Corsi's work cites government websites which carry full planning details of the Super Highway and its construction has already begun in Texas with no congressional oversight whatsoever. The Trans-Texas Corridor is being overseen by The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the contract is owned by the Cintra corporation which in turn is owned by the King of Spain Juan Carlos. The project is being financed by the implementation of a toll that will be collected by means of GPS tracking devices installed in all vehicles and also envelops many connecting roads to the highway.

The NAFTA Super Highway will allow vehicles, people and goods to travel from Mexico, into the heart of America and up to Canada with little impediment, effectively erasing America's borders wholesale.

Coupled with Bush's blanket amnesty program, the Pan American Union is the final jigsaw piece for the total dismantling of America as we know it.

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Global Research Feature Article

URL of this article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060919&articleId=3274

www.GlobalResearch.ca

by Michel Chossudovsky

September 19, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

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