ACTION ALERT: Denied entry to U.S. peace activists demands revisiting of SPP border arrangements
October 5, 2007
On Wednesday, October 3, Medea Benjamin, founder of the anti-war women’s group CODEPINK, and retired Army colonel Ann Wright were denied entry into Canada at the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Bridge. They were told that they could not cross the border into Canada because their names appeared on an FBI database that Canadian border agents rely on to screen visitors.
Wright had similar trouble entering Canada at the end of August when she tried to attend a public forum about the SPP co-sponsored by the Council. Immigration officials at the Ottawa international airport detained her for almost four hours after consulting the U.S. National Criminal Information Center's (NCIC) database of U.S. citizens with criminal records, which showed that Wright had been arrested, along with 46 others, while occupying a congressman's office in a peaceful protest.
"Despite international travel to England, Italy, Jordan, Syria, Cuba and twice to Canada in the past two years since my first arrest in September 2005, this was the first time I have joined the ranks of thousands of persons each day who are subjected to secondary screening around the world," said Wright in an interview with Truthout.org.
As reported in today's Globe and Mail, "A day after two U.S. anti-war activists were barred from entering Canada, the reasons for their rejection remained unclear."
"I travel all over the world on a regular basis and Canada is the first country to use the NCIC to keep out people like us," said Benjamin at a press conference outside the Canadian consulate in Washington D.C yesterday. The Globe and Mail spoke with Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson Chris Williams who said that just being on the FBI's NCIC list does not automatically bar someone from entry into Canada but that each entry is "always judged on a case-by-case basis."
To hear an interview with Benjamin on CBC's As it Happens, click here to listen to Part 1 of the October 4 broadcast.
Wright suspects that she and Benjamin were denied entry for reasons the Canadian government is not willing to admit. "First, the FBI should not have put us on that list,'' she told the same news conference where Benjamin spoke yesterday, as reported by the Canadian Press on Friday. "And secondly, the Canadian government should not be doing the dirty political intimidation work for the Bush administration by using that database."
A key initiative of the SPP’s “security agenda” is to, “Work to ensure compatibility of systems to share data on high-risk travellers and… to provide for risk management decisions on travellers destined to or transiting North America.” Meanwhile, the SPP’s “prosperity agenda” calls for the harmonization of regulatory standards on pesticides and other chemicals, which has already resulted in Canada allowing more pesticides on hundreds of fruits and vegetables to match lower U.S. standards.
“Most people would agree that pesticides pose a significantly higher risk to Canadians than peace activists,” said Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, in an October 4 press release. “Any agreement that blocks the free movement of people based on political beliefs, ethnic background or who their friends are but that allows even more hazardous chemicals across the border clearly has nothing to do with the real security of North Americans.”
THE DEMAND
Activists are encouraged to write a letter to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (Day.S@parl.gc.ca) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca) demanding that they revisit the security initiatives in the Security and Prosperity Partnership that apparently deny entry to peace activists while allowing more pesticides to cross the border on fruit and vegetables.
Stuart Trew, Researcher/Writer, The Council of Canadians
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