"New" Government Cares about its Citizens

[J.O.]

W5 just did an excellent story on this woman's situation. The inaction of our government, and lies being told by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are an embarrasment to those values we call Canadian.

Ottawa must demand ruling on Canadian jailed in Mexico

Charles Rusnell, Canwest News Service

Published: Sunday, February 03, 2008

EDMONTON — Supporters of a Canadian woman imprisoned in Mexico for nearly two years without trial are demanding the government exercise its legal right to insist a Mexican judge immediately rule on her case.

Lawyers for Trenton, Ont.-native Brenda Martin filed an application in Guadalajara Jan. 7 asking that the charges against her be thrown out because her constitutional rights under Mexican and international law had been breached.

“By law, the Canadian government can demand that the judge in that case immediately issue a ruling and we want Canada to make that demand,” said Martin’s friend, Waterloo, Ont., businesswoman Deb Tieleman. “Her rights have been breached from the beginning and we want her to be released.”

Mexican police arrested Martin in Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 17, 2006. She was charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy.

Martin had worked as a chef for Edmontonian Alyn Waage, who was convicted of operating what is believed to be the largest Internet-based fraud schemes in history.

Martin has strongly professed her innocence and Waage, who is serving a 10-year-sentence in an American jail, has sworn an affidavit stating that Martin had no knowledge of the scheme. (She worked as a cook at his vacation home in Puerto Vallarta)

Martin, 51, has languished in jail with her case apparently stalled in the Mexican justice system.

Tieleman recently hired new lawyers to represent Martin and after reviewing the court file, they alleged Martin had been denied her most basic legal rights under Mexican and international law. She had not been provided with a proper translator either by police or the courts.

Police convinced Martin to give two voluntary statements, without a lawyer or translator present, by telling her she was only a witness. They subsequently used those statements to charge her.

Tieleman, and Martin’s lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico of Toronto, say Martin’s human rights have also been breached by Mexican authorities. Both Canada and Mexico are signatories to a United Nations treaty on the rights of prisoners. Under that treaty, prisoners who have not been convicted are to be segregated from convicted prisoners.

For the past two years, Martin has shared a 2.7- by by 3.6-metre cell with nine other female prisoners, and one child. One of her cellmates killed two of her children with a pair of scissors. Another cellmate was convicted, along with her husband, in the kidnapping of 11 people. They cut the fingers off a number of their victims to extort ransom from their families.

Martin is also in the same general prison population as a notorious inmate known as the Beauty Queen Killer, who killed 16 women by injecting them with motor oil instead of botox.

Until recently, Canadian consular officials had wrongly assumed Martin was housed in her own cell, Tieleman said.

Tieleman and Cruz are meeting with Helena Guergis, Canada’s secretary of state for foreign affairs, on Tuesday at Guergis’s request.

After months of what Tieleman says was inaction on Martin’s case, Guergis last week travelled to Mexico to lobby top Mexican justice officials for an expedited ruling. Senior Canadian officials also told their Mexican counterparts that Canada was prepared to immediately accept Martin if she was extradited.

Liberal MP Dan McTeague, the foreign affairs critic for consular affairs, said Guergis altered her busy schedule to accommodate the whirlwind trip to Mexico after she learned he intended to visit Martin in Mexico later this month.

McTeague first raised Martin’s case in the House of Commons a year ago and has been pressing Guergis to intervene in the 51-year-old woman’s case. He said he is travelling to Mexico, at his own expense, to maintain pressure on both countries to expedite Martin’s case.

“I am going firstly to assure Brenda that we care about her and will not rest until she receives justice,” McTeague said Saturday. “And I am going out of frustration because the government, until recently, has done nothing to help this poor woman whose legal and human rights have not been respected.”

Guergis did not see Martin during her recent Mexican trip but on Friday she said the Canadian consul general to Mexico visited her for the first time since her incarceration. In a telephone interview Saturday, Martin said she was livid that her case had been effectively ignored by consular officials for two years.

“I said, “You are a little late. You did not look after my basic legal rights. I have spent two years in prison for a crime I did not commit.”

Tieleman said Guergis, and Canada, has an absolute legal right and an obligation to demand an immediate ruling in Martin’s case.

“I want an assurance that Brenda will be released next week,” Tieleman said.

“Canada has to stop pussyfooting around Mexico. They have to take a firm stand and give them an absolute date that this matter will be resolved and explain that there will be repercussions, including a travel advisory, unless that happens.”

Edmonton Journal

[Guest rattler]

Couple of things, they no longer call themselves the "new Government". Regarding the problem, I watched Mike Duffy on CTV on the same case and he pointed out that the situation (re Mexican law and Canadian Citizens) had existed during the Liberal reign and nothing had been done then either.

However the point remains: is she guilty and why has it taken so long for her case to come trial. Mind you in Canada, we do see cases taking a considerable amount of time to come to trial but 2 years is quite excessive.

[J.O.]

The issue for me is that in spite of repeated requests to Foreign Affairs, they have ignored this case and have refused to take any action on this woman's behalf, until most recently when they knew the story was going to hit the fan on W5. The ministry even wrote a letter to the CTV reporter claiming they had visited her dozens of times in prison. She claims they have never visited her even once. When the reporter, a Canadian citizen, went to the consulate in Guadalajara to enquire about her case, they refused to even talk to her.

[Super 80]

The cold hard fact of the matter the tireless diplomat fighting for a countryman in trouble abroad is a thing of fiction.

Most countries would rather their citizens in peril just vanish off the face of the earth than bring about any sort of diplomatic confrontation.

The Americans themselves for instance have thrown out American women and children held against their will in Saudi Arabia and into the arms of the waiting religious police when they saught assistance in the embassy.

There was a Canadian man held in India on drug charges for years and when the case finally came to trial the judge threw out the case in 15 minutes flat on the lack of supporting evidence. All the Canadian government did was direct the family to lawyers they found on the internet who took all their money and did nothing to free the man.

[mo32a]

I'm still confused. Why do people expect their government to come to their aid when they are in another country.

Do you see Mexican officials or Guatemalan officials up in Vancouver when their nationals are caught drug dealing or trafficking in slaves?

I am always brought back to that time when the hurricane hit Cancun and all these dumb Canucks standing around saying -"the government hasn't done anything for us". They are expecting emergency evacuation and first class service along with it.

Nobody told you to go to Mexico - you had several days notice that a hurricane was coming - get your a55 out of there!!!!

Nobody wants to pay more taxes but when their nuts are in the grinder they want the "government" to come bail them out!!

Get over it and take some personal responsibility!!

[deicer]

Nobody wants to pay more taxes but when their nuts are in the grinder they want the "government" to come bail them out!!

What about the "Canadians" who hold the passport of convenience?

IE: The situation in Lebanon where AC made a few bucks airlifting those poor people who have Canadian passports yet live out of country and pay NO taxes who wanted their heineys saved.

I believe that there should be a dual passport system.

If you are a Canadian, who RESIDES in Canada, and pays Canadian taxes, you should have a Red passport that affords you all rights, privaledges and protections of being a Canadian Citizen.

If you are just holding a Canadian passport as a convenience, and live elsewhere paying nothing to Canadian Society, you should have a Blue passport to identify the difference.

When the cack hits the fan, Blue books to the back of the line

Iceman

[J.O.]

So if they are not there to offer aid to Canadian citizens, why bother establishing a consulate or an embassy in a foreign country? And how exactly do you propose that I, you, or anyone, "take some personal responsibility" when falsely accused of a crime you not only didn't commit, but didn't even know had been committed, until the real criminal was arrested?

The crime (an internet scam) wasn't even committed in Mexico, but in the US and Canada. A severance package she was given by her former employer was perceived by Mexican officials as part of a money laundering scheme. Interesting that her former employer was never accused of money laundering.

No one is a greater proponent of self responsbility than me, but there are times when a country should stand up for its' citizens, and this is one of them. I am not suggesting they send in a commando brigade to break her out of jail. But Foreign Affairs didn't even take the time to investigate this case when they were advised this was a glaring case of wrongful accusation and unfair due process. At the very least, our government should ensure that the foreign country is following its' own laws when prosecuting a Canadian citizen. And it's pretty clear that Mexico has not followed their own rules with respect to due process. She wasn't even given the help of a translator when she was arrested or when in court.

I suspect if this unfortunate woman were someone you care about, the tune you are singing now would be a little bit different.

[CD]

Couple of things, they no longer call themselves the "new Government".

Off topic... That's interesting. It would appear that the phrase was finally dropped sometime in October, about the time that the fall/spring election rumours started picking up.

There are press releases from mid-October when the phrase "CANADA'S NEW GOVERNMENT" was still in extensive use, as well as a news article from earlier this month where it appears that the media have been trained to continue using the phrase, although granted it's not in a positive light:

Canada's New Government Taking Action to Clean up Lake Simcoe - October 12, 2007

Building the stone wall to new heights - February 02, 2008

[mo32a]

So if they are not there to offer aid to Canadian citizens, why bother establishing a consulate or an embassy in a foreign country? And how exactly do you propose that I, you, or anyone, "take some personal responsibility" when falsely accused of a crime you not only didn't commit, but didn't even know had been committed, until the real criminal was arrested?

.

The consulate is there to promote Canadian interests in the region - i.e. sell them some of our fine goods in exchange for buying some of theirs. The embassy is there to promote Canada and Canadian ideals to foreign nationals.

I propose you take some "personal responsibility" by keeping your "a55" out of countries that have corrupt legal and political systems. Get the travel advisories from "your" government, throw in a pinch of CDF and don't travel to those locales.

I don't travel to Mexico anymore because I don't trust their police or their government - I don't miss it!! There are hundreds of better places to go.

When the tourism industry falls apart in Mexico maybe they will take some action to improve their depolorable record.

[Guest woxof]

Freed from prison, Brenda Martin wants to go back to Mexico

Brenda Martin, photographed in April during a meeting with journalists at an office inside Puente Grande prison in Guadalajara, now says she felt safer in the Mexican jail than at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont. Brenda Martin, photographed in April during a meeting with journalists at an office inside Puente Grande prison in Guadalajara, now says she felt safer in the Mexican jail than at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont. (Guillermo Arias/Associated Press)

The Canadian woman who threatened suicide to get out of a Mexican jail says she misses the beach and would happily return to Mexico if she could.

"I could say right now that if the Mexican government was to give me a pardon, I would go back," Brenda Martin wrote in an article, I Languished in a Mexican Prison, published online at the social media website Orato.

Martin was accused of being part of a multimillion-dollar internet fraud scheme. She was convicted of money laundering in Mexico earlier this year and sentenced to five years in prison without parole. In addition to the prison sentence, Martin was fined 35,800 pesos, or around $3,180.

Martin spent more than two years in a jail outside Guadalajara before being sentenced — and her imprisonment became a cause célèbre in Canada with thousands of people, including high-profile politicians, taking up her case.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper phoned Mexican President Felipe Calderon in March to discuss the file. Maxime Bernier, at the time the foreign affairs minister, spoke to his Mexican counterpart about Martin. Even former prime minister Paul Martin visited her in prison.

At one point Independent MP Bill Casey said he was mulling over calling for a tourism boycott against one of Canada's largest trading partners to press for Martin's release.

Martin made headlines when she threatened to kill herself and was placed on suicide watch by authorities at the Puente Grande women's prison in Guadalajara.

A friend who visited Martin in jail at the time described her as "mentally unstable, she is physically exhausted, she's emotionally a mess."

Martin, 51, was accused of participating in a $60-million US internet fraud scheme run by Canadian Alyn Richard Waage, who was convicted of fraud in 2005 and is serving a 10-year term in a U.S. prison.

Mexican investigators said Martin, who worked as Waage's chef in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months, accepted a severance package knowing the money came from the scam.

But Martin maintained her innocence, saying she knew nothing of Waage's illegal activities.

In her internet article, Martin complained she was "duped" by Waage.

She also asserted the Mexican lawyers who initially worked for her "robbed $20,000 from my family and friends."

Martin said she could have bought her way out of trouble but "I didn't have the money to bribe my way out of Mexico."

Jailers killed her cats

In describing her incarceration, Martin said she was put in a cell with a convicted child murderer and a kidnapper. Her jailers, she said, killed the feral cats that had become her pets, stomping them with their boots.

During her time in Puente Grande — which one Mexican government official described to CBC News as one of the toughest prisons in Mexico — Martin said she was beaten and robbed.

In April, after pleading guilty to the money laundering charges, Martin was released and allowed to return to Canada to serve her sentence.

The Canadian government loaned Martin the money to pay her $3,180 fine.

The Correctional Service of Canada then chartered a private plane to bring her home — at a reported cost of $82,000.

Martin is currently on parole, living at her mother's home in Trenton, Ont.

Shockingly, Martin wrote, after being repatriated to Canada by federal authorities, her short stay at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont., made her long for a return to her Mexican jail cell.

She felt "threatened," she wrote, and was ready to go back to the jail her supporters fought so hard to free her from.

"Eight days into the Kitchener, Ont., prison, I was ready to go back to Mexico! I would much rather be in a Mexican prison than a Canadian one," she said.

"I think my 'celebrity status' put me in harm's way in Canada. A lot of the inmates had the attitude, 'You're a convicted felon, just like us; don't think you're going to get any special treatment.' I felt threatened."

Martin said she wants to return to Mexico, "believe it or not. Mexico was my life. I lost the little life that I had. It might not have been a big life; I wasn't rich, I didn't own a home, I didn't own a car, I didn't own a telephone … but I was comfortable. I had the beach."

Under Mexican law, Martin will not be eligible for a visa until after she finishes serving her sentence in 2011.

A spokesperson for the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa told CBC News the embassy is aware of her article but would not have any official comment.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/200...#socialcomments

[Kip Powick]

Yeh, she's here and we're s-o-o-o-o-o proud!! nutbar

[mo32a]

Freed from prison, Brenda Martin wants to go back to Mexico

Brenda Martin, photographed in April during a meeting with journalists at an office inside Puente Grande prison in Guadalajara, now says she felt safer in the Mexican jail than at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont. Brenda Martin, photographed in April during a meeting with journalists at an office inside Puente Grande prison in Guadalajara, now says she felt safer in the Mexican jail than at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont. (Guillermo Arias/Associated Press)

The Canadian woman who threatened suicide to get out of a Mexican jail says she misses the beach and would happily return to Mexico if she could.

"I could say right now that if the Mexican government was to give me a pardon, I would go back," Brenda Martin wrote in an article, I Languished in a Mexican Prison, published online at the social media website Orato.

Martin was accused of being part of a multimillion-dollar internet fraud scheme. She was convicted of money laundering in Mexico earlier this year and sentenced to five years in prison without parole. In addition to the prison sentence, Martin was fined 35,800 pesos, or around $3,180.

Martin spent more than two years in a jail outside Guadalajara before being sentenced — and her imprisonment became a cause célèbre in Canada with thousands of people, including high-profile politicians, taking up her case.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper phoned Mexican President Felipe Calderon in March to discuss the file. Maxime Bernier, at the time the foreign affairs minister, spoke to his Mexican counterpart about Martin. Even former prime minister Paul Martin visited her in prison.

At one point Independent MP Bill Casey said he was mulling over calling for a tourism boycott against one of Canada's largest trading partners to press for Martin's release.

Martin made headlines when she threatened to kill herself and was placed on suicide watch by authorities at the Puente Grande women's prison in Guadalajara.

A friend who visited Martin in jail at the time described her as "mentally unstable, she is physically exhausted, she's emotionally a mess."

Martin, 51, was accused of participating in a $60-million US internet fraud scheme run by Canadian Alyn Richard Waage, who was convicted of fraud in 2005 and is serving a 10-year term in a U.S. prison.

Mexican investigators said Martin, who worked as Waage's chef in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months, accepted a severance package knowing the money came from the scam.

But Martin maintained her innocence, saying she knew nothing of Waage's illegal activities.

In her internet article, Martin complained she was "duped" by Waage.

She also asserted the Mexican lawyers who initially worked for her "robbed $20,000 from my family and friends."

Martin said she could have bought her way out of trouble but "I didn't have the money to bribe my way out of Mexico."

Jailers killed her cats

In describing her incarceration, Martin said she was put in a cell with a convicted child murderer and a kidnapper. Her jailers, she said, killed the feral cats that had become her pets, stomping them with their boots.

During her time in Puente Grande — which one Mexican government official described to CBC News as one of the toughest prisons in Mexico — Martin said she was beaten and robbed.

In April, after pleading guilty to the money laundering charges, Martin was released and allowed to return to Canada to serve her sentence.

The Canadian government loaned Martin the money to pay her $3,180 fine.

The Correctional Service of Canada then chartered a private plane to bring her home — at a reported cost of $82,000.

Martin is currently on parole, living at her mother's home in Trenton, Ont.

Shockingly, Martin wrote, after being repatriated to Canada by federal authorities, her short stay at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont., made her long for a return to her Mexican jail cell.

She felt "threatened," she wrote, and was ready to go back to the jail her supporters fought so hard to free her from.

"Eight days into the Kitchener, Ont., prison, I was ready to go back to Mexico! I would much rather be in a Mexican prison than a Canadian one," she said.

"I think my 'celebrity status' put me in harm's way in Canada. A lot of the inmates had the attitude, 'You're a convicted felon, just like us; don't think you're going to get any special treatment.' I felt threatened."

Martin said she wants to return to Mexico, "believe it or not. Mexico was my life. I lost the little life that I had. It might not have been a big life; I wasn't rich, I didn't own a home, I didn't own a car, I didn't own a telephone … but I was comfortable. I had the beach."

Under Mexican law, Martin will not be eligible for a visa until after she finishes serving her sentence in 2011.

A spokesperson for the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa told CBC News the embassy is aware of her article but would not have any official comment.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/200...#socialcomments

I am trying to figure out what your post had to do with aviation.

[J.O.]

I am trying to figure out what your post had to do with aviation.

Maybe he was trying to point out that I had called on the government to do more to help someone who, to quote Kip, seems to be a bit of a nut bar. But it wasn't about the individual, it was about being a Canadian and expecting more from our government, particularly when there are serious questions as to the veracity of the charges against the individual.

Besides, she came home on a plane, so it is sort of about aviation.

[UpperDeck]

Now you just have to admit---that's funny. There was a reference to flying her home, though.

[Jaydee]

JO

Or more probably a tongue-in-cheek reply from Mo32a to Woxof as only yesterday Woxof made a caustic remark to the "Freedom isn't Free" topic asking what it had to do with aviation. Woxof then turns around and does exactly the same thing they criticized a few hours earlier.

[Trader]

Would you recommend also that if you were arrested while abroad on a flight that the government not help?? After all, you are still there by choice!

The situation in Lebanon is an immigration issue not a passport issue. The number of people who 'immigarte' to Canada for passport purposes is astounding. Get the passport nd leave again.

EVERY SINGLE day I see ads in almost all the Middle East newspapers for immigration to Canada. They all claim easy entry procedures, free education, health care etc. Canada is also viewed as an easy target and an easy place to immigrate to.

If you don't want passport holders of convienience then then the immigration policy has to change. Perhaps a mandatory 10 to 20 years of living in Canada or your passport will be revoked.

[Guest woxof]

As I have said many times before, I have not been starting non-aviation threads, but certainly update them, as in this case or post in disagreement(or corrections) with others started(which seems to ruffle quite a few feathers). I suppose once a thread is there, it is there.

Of course, it has just been my opinion and my opinion only that this was better suited as an aviation topic forum. Other forums such as AvCanada and PPrune have a separate forum for non-aviation topics(eg. Jetblast on PPRune) because they know that a forum can get swamped with off-topic stuff. It has been nice not to see a bunch of political stuff on here lately. It always seemed to me that aviation threads brought us together while many of the others led to bickering and pulling us apart.

However, I am not the administrator, only a guest and I that it is not for me to decide on the rules of the forum. Although, I do suggest similar on this forum.

They say...If you can't beat 'em, then join 'em. So due to the high popularity and critical importance of my posts (especially in the past election), I have decided to do as many others and add off-topic subjects to this forum. I have no doubt that you eagerly await them as much now as previously

As for Brenda Martin, perhaps foreign affairs saw through this from the beginning but once the media and politicians got on it for their own reasons, there was no realistic choice but to intervene. Or perhaps not. We don't know, but doubts are arising based on the comments in that article I posted.

Will we use the A-310 for Omar Khadr next? I have no doubt that some would be quite willing to support that. At least I can understand how people(including myself)supported bring her home.

Woxof....searching for new subjects.