Harper Could Put Bullying to Good Use Here.
| 3/13/2008 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
In February 2006 a Canadian, Brenda Martin, was arrested in Mexico and charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy. What did she do? She worked as a cook in Puerto Vallarta for former Edmontonian Alyn Waage who is currently serving time in an American prison for a worldwide fraud. He ran an internet investment scam.
Waage has provided a sworn statement that as his cook, Brenda Martin knew nothing about his activities. It appears that and nothing else has made any impression on Mexican authorities who have held the woman without trial now for two years. Our government has finally sent a diplomatic note to the Mexicans but at this point it appears to be to no avail.
Our current government has certainly established precedent that they will not go to bat for Canadians caught up in the legal system of other countries. There is the Canadian on death row in the US, the child soldier Omar Khadr and the Canadian currently under sentence of beheading in Saudi Arabia and now Brenda Martin.
The others, while I don’t like the concept that our government wont step to the plate to attempt to bring Canadian nationals home to face penalties here for their misdeeds abroad, there is a certain fuzzy logic in letting them suffer the consequences abroad. With Brenda Martin, we seem to have a different situation.
This is not a case that Harper can point to the Liberals and their lack of action. The Liberals are the only ones who have stayed all over top of this file. The former MP in Northumberland, Pal Macklin, has worked hard to try to get attention on this case and pressure brought to bear. Most recently, former Prime Minister Paul Martin, took time away from meetings in Mexico to both advocate on her behalf and to visit her. Which is more than our government has done.
Harper didn’t hesitate to be belligerent with China over their human rights record, yet, here we have a Canadian who is clearly having any human rights, Canadian or international, stomped all over and our government sits on its hands. Why isn’t Harper and his pack of bulldogs not all over this case?
Oh right, I almost forgot, Mexico is one of the ‘three amigos’, we should hold them to a softer standard than a country like China. Harper, you’re a wimp.
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