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TechnoratiUS Anti-War Activist Ordered Out of Canada, Barred For Two Years
VANCOUVER - An anti-war activist who has cast herself as a political victim in a battle with the Canada Border Services Agency was ordered to leave the country yesterday after an Immigration Board hearing concluded she had misled officials.
Alison Bodine, whose cause has generated street rallies, letter-writing campaigns by MPs and MLAs, and a petition containing 3,000 signatures, held back tears in the hearing room as she signed an exclusion order after the ruling by adjudicator Mark Tessler.
Then she went outside to meet her supporters and declared, "Justice comes on the street, not in a hearing room."
But what was said in the hearing room raised questions both about the actions of border officials and Ms. Bodine's motives.
The case began on Sept. 10, at about 2 a.m., when Ms. Bodine, a U.S. citizen and a central organizer with a Vancouver organization called Mobilization Against War & Occupation, presented herself at the Peace Arch border crossing, just north of Blaine, Wash.
Canadian Border Services officer Kelly Emmott refused Ms. Bodine entry after determining that she did not have proof of funds with her, that she had no evidence of ties to the U.S. and that her car was loaded with backpacks, a bike and what officials described as a wooden "hope chest" containing personal items.
Ms. Emmott suspected a move to Canada was in the works, although Ms. Bodine said she was coming for a short visit.
Ms. Bodine, 22, a recent University of British Columbia graduate who has a boyfriend in Vancouver and who had a possible job waiting for her at Simon Fraser University, said she was stopped because of anti-war pamphlets in her car.
Several hours after returning to the U.S., she approached the border again, with only one backpack in her car. The rest of her bags had been transferred to a vehicle being driven by her boyfriend, Andrew Barry, who was following her.
Ms. Bodine was quickly waved through. But when border officials questioned Mr. Barry, they saw the baggage in his car and identified it as being hers. When she subsequently returned to pick up that seized material, she was arrested - triggering the admissibility hearings and sparking a growing protest movement in Vancouver.
In his ruling, Mr. Tessler said there was little doubt Ms. Bodine deliberately misled border officials by off-loading her bags, and by failing to alert officials to the fact she'd been turned away earlier.
But he questioned the initial decision by border officials to refuse her entry.
"I am rather bewildered by that decision," he said, because there is nothing to stop someone from entering Canada for a dual purpose. That is, Ms. Bodine could have been coming to Vancouver for a short visit, but with several bags and plans of later applying to stay in the country.
He said, however, it was not within the hearing's scope to determine whether Canada Border Services Agency acted appropriately in initially turning Ms. Bodine away. The only issue at hand, he said, was the question of whether Ms. Bodine had misrepresented herself.
He found that she had, saying she was "playing fast and loose" with border officials. He also said there was no evidence border officials acted because of her political views.
But Ms. Bodine remained defiant.
"They shouldn't have arrested me at all," she said outside. "What the Immigration adjudicator ruled on upstairs was completely a technicality that they've chosen to pursue based on the fact I'm a political organizer. ... I will not be allowed back in Canada for two years, for political organizing, for raising my voice, speaking out against war and occupation."
Asked if her numerous bags, her pending job interview and the presence of a boyfriend in Vancouver signaled a desire to move here, she replied, "Eventually yes, I do want to live here in Canada."
© 2007 The Globe and Mail
29 Comments so far
Show Allthe people at the border treat every one like a peice of s***, on each side the only thing is some are more polite than others , they have more power than the police ,i wish the people who start wars were in the front line leading the charge,(something fell on my head this afternoon)
Stevie Harper will do anything that pleases Bush, especially Stevie's support of American foreign policy.
Wanna corrupt a government? Annihilate a people? create slums? destroy your land? poison folks? Easy. Send in a U.S. corporation sponsored by our knee walking protein fed "leaders". GUARANTEED to work the FIRST time and backed by the full idiocy and nationalist genocide of the U.S. sheeple.
Seems as if Bodine had been living in Canada off and on for a while. I wonder if her relationship with her boyfriend can last her being barred from Canada for two years. I wonder if her boyfriend is similarly barred from the US (not that he'd want to live there, but that is an obvious question missing from the original article).
Canada does a lot of trade with the US. The US has threatened Canada that if we don't do what they want us to that they will make it very hard to get trucks selling goods across the border. Instead of focusing on keeping Cocaine and guns out of Canada, they want our border guards to be more concerned with Pot leaving the country. With the result that Cocaine is becoming more available.
And even about Arar, the US was threatening to slow the border right down if we didn't investigate anyone remotely suspicious. And, even if the person was cleared, the fact that they were investigated is enough to get them on a list to the FBI.
And Marc Emery has been selling seeds on line for over a decade (even pays income tax on his earnings) but now that the US wants him, he is going to be turned over to them to serve life for something the police here could not be bothered with.
The sad thing, though, is that Harper wants most of the same thing Bush does so it doesn't really take any threats to get him to sniff Bush's butt.
Colleen, you may be interested in the following - Wright and Benjamin came up during Question Period:
Ms. Alexa McDonough (Halifax, NDP): Mr. Speaker, this government has learned nothing from the Maher Arar fiasco.
Retired U.S. colonel, Ann Wright, and CodePink co-founder, Medea Benjamin, were blocked at Canada's border because they appeared on an FBI watch list. Their crime was peaceful protest, time-honoured civil disobedience, in opposition to the Iraqi war.
Why is the Prime Minister hiding behind the FBI to ban respected U.S. citizens from entering our country?
Hon. Stockwell Day (Minister of Public Safety, CPC): Mr. Speaker, in the exercise of our sovereign rights, we have very distinct guidelines in terms of who may come into the country and who may not. We exercise those vigorously for the protection and for the interests of Canada, and we will continue to do that.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2&DocId=308293...
Wright and Benjamin also came up during the discussion of Bill C-426 (An Act to amend the Canada Evidence Act - protection of journalistic sources and search warrants):
Mr. Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre, NDP): ... We have had concerns about how we deal with border security, as recently as yesterday when a retired colonel from the American military was not allowed into our country because of being on an FBI watch list.
Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are critical in the atmosphere in which we are living. They are the foundation of our democracy. If we are not able to find the balance now, we will regret it later. If journalists are not able to protect their sources, we know what will happen. We have seen it around the world and in history. People will no longer come forward. It would not only affect members of Parliament in not being able to find critical analysis because information would not be shared, but citizens in general would not have the information they need to hold institutions to account.
Mr. Lloyd St. Amand (Brant, Lib.): ... Closer to home, one of the best known cases on the issue of journalistic freedom is the case involving the Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill. Members of the House will recall that Ms. O'Neill, a journalist writing for the Ottawa Citizen, wrote an article on November 8, 2003 about Maher Arar, the Syrian-born Canadian citizen whom American authorities arrested and wrongly deported to Syria.
In January 2004, some several weeks after her article, the RCMP obtained two search warrants to search Ms. O'Neill's home, as well as her office at the Ottawa Citizen. The warrants were issued by a justice of the peace in support of a criminal investigation into alleged violations of the Security of Information Act.
The searches of Ms. O'Neill's residence and office took place on January 21, 2004, and resulted in the seizure of certain documents and certain computer information. Needless to say, Ms. O'Neill did not agree to the searches taking place either at her home or at her office.
The matter found its way to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and an extensive hearing over several days took place in the late summer and early fall of 2006. The Superior Court Justice struck down various subsections of the Security of Information Act, ruling that the subsections violated both section 7 and section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We know that section 7 in particular deals with "the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived" of those rights "except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice". ...
In commenting on the subsections of the Security of Information Act, the justice held that the subsections were overly broad, arbitrary, vague, and gave the government an unfettered ability to protect whatever information it chose to classify as unauthorized for disclosure and to punish any violation by way of a criminal offence. In short, the justice ruled that the subsections were of no force and effect.
After the decision of the court, the federal government announced that it would not appeal the decision and that it would consider its options. In February 2007, the special Senate committee on the Anti-terrorism Act released a report recommending that the Security of Information Act be amended to narrow the scope of information for which disclosure is an offence. ...
Like the member opposite who spoke prior to me, amendments that I would like to see introduced at committee stage include a tighter or better definition of "journalist". The definition of "journalist" as presently written in the bill is too broad and would undoubtedly be problematic. It is peculiar, however, that currently no federal or provincial legislation appears to define the term "journalist" nor does Canadian case law provide a consistent definition. Ideally, the committee will see fit to recommend an improved definition of the term "journalist".
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2&DocId=308657...
Hi colleen,
You said "If you take a car with many items in it and you are not Canadian you have a high probability of being stopped."
She had her car full of backpacks, household goods, a "hope chest", along with the pamphlets, and she's not Canadian. Bingo!
There are many fine American and Canadian anti-war activists, but in this particular case I think she is trying to twist the circumstances to make it appear political when it really wasn't.
I hope Harper is gone soon too... and best of luck with your elections in the US; we're rooting for you!!
And I hope there is another election soon in Canada and the conservatives are defeated. If the Canadians do not like a leader they can call elections to get rid of that leader. That is unlike the US where we can not get rid of Bush without an impeachment or the next election cycle.
And that is the flaw in the American system of government:
We have a bad leader and we can not remove him from power.
kazzam
The border guards and the adjucator are separate and have separate thoughts.
Why did the border guards first stop Bodine?
It was the pamphlets and without the pamplets Bodine was later able to cross the border
Why did the adjudicator decide against Bodine?
Because Bodine didn't say she had been stopped at the border previously and she tried to get the pamphlets across with another car . Bodine lied with a lie of omission. She didn't make a lie but she didn't tell the truth either
As someone who crosses the border every month and has been turned away twice.....there are some things that are not allowed across the border. and I only take across personal items. If you take a car with many items in it and you are not Canadian you have a high probability of being stopped.
Canada is not the US ..it is a separate nation and it has its own laws.
When an American is in Canada they are a foreign national and you do not have the rights of a Canadian.
And something I've learned up here.. sad to say..Canadians do not like America..and I think they haven't liked the US for a long time...pre Bush
If you are in Canada be extremely polite. Canadians are very polite. .
and they will hesitate to correct you even if you are wrong because they are so polite.
(Americans have a tendency to think everyone likes them and they have American rights wherever they go)
but I wish Bodine well and I am saddened that she has run into this problem...I can imagine that she felt very at home in Canada. Its a wonderful place and Vancouver is a great city.
kazzamm, you got it right. as a canadian, i am glad we are prudent at the border. as much as i cannot stand our current government, this has nothing to do with them. it is about the rule of law. if you are not candid at the border, you may suffer the concequences.
Dr. Candle: The "misrepresentation" she was accused of was failing to mention to the immigration people that she had been previously turned away from the border - which was an improper decision that could only have been motivated by the official seeing anti-war literature in her car."
Or perhaps it was motivated by the "household goods" and "hope chest" she was bringing in for a 2-day visit which, after she was turned back were transferred to her Canadian boyfriend's car and which he then tried to bring in but got caught?
Sounds to me like she was trying to scam them, got busted, and now we're supposed to support that because she's anti-war?
Poor little Bodine, got caught not being forthright and wants to be a bloody martyr. Its a sovereign nation kiddo and you obey their law. Anti war stuff is bread and butter up there and doesn't raise eyebrows. Fess up she wanted to stay and didn't want to say so.
A coca cola revolution, give me a bloody break, baring breast to meet ball this isn't.
This is another good reason for concerned Canadians to dump the current government in the next election. Vote Socialist!
Bodine wasn't trying to enter Canada "under false pretences" as someone alleged above.
The "misrepresentation" she was accused of was failing to mention to the immigration people that she had been previously turned away from the border - which was an improper decision that could only have been motivated by the official seeing anti-war literature in her car. She made no attempt to hide it. It was not illegal literature. She was not smuggling anything. There was no good reason to deny her entry into Canada on either of the two occasions.
If border guards are going to illegally block the importation of anti-war pamphlets, however, then I applaud anyone who tries to smuggle them into Canada.
"brianct: Ultimately this is all the work of the neocon war on Islam. And proof [sic] of zionist control of both US and canadian policies."
brianct, stephen harper is a pathetic little doggie (no offense to non-pathetic little doggies) who idolizes his master g.w.bush.
probably most of the people who voted for him are too ignorant to even know what zionism is. they voted for him because they related to his general conservative values. you are really stretching it with the zionism thing.
"denny: ... I know canadians despise americans and I don't blame them." denny,
i am a 60 year old born and bred canadian who has spent a considerable amount of time in the states and i do not categorically despise americans. pick any country and you'll find a range of people from evil to saintly: u.s.a., canada, israel, iran - go through the alphabet. i have definitely felt that there is a pervasive american cultural perspective that the u.s.a. is the best country in the world, but a lot of other countries have similar views - they just aren't powerful enough to make these views more hateful than just plain obnoxious or silly. my feelings about american culture (a lot of which, funky music included, i really like) do not translate into a hatred of all americans, by any means. give yourself a break. we'd probably get along just fine.
This is just outrageous.
'An anti-war activist who has cast herself as a political victim in a battle with the Canada Border Services Agency was ordered to leave the country yesterday after an Immigration Board hearing concluded she had misled officials.'
Excuse me, but not only IS she a political victim, she is a victi of censorship. Something canada would say it does not do...But here Canada, the same govt that helped send canadian citizen Maha Arar to Syria for torture...refuses to allow criticism of its policies.
Ultimately this is all the work of the neocon war on Islam. And proof of zionist control of both US and canadian policies.
It appears to me that she is using her "anti-war Activist" persona as her reason to condemn the Canadian officials for catching her trying to enter under false pretenses.
colleen said "My guess is that it was the large number of pamplets that caused the border guard to question whether they should come into Canada."
Exactly - it's just your guess. The adjudicator stated specifically (in the article colleen linked to) the decision had nothing to do with her pamphlets or her political stance, but she went right ahead and used that excuse anyway to generate support for her personal agenda.
Focus your anger where it actually belongs -- on the politicians who make the silly rules and the enforcement policies in the first place. Without in any way excusing their highhandedness and questionable judgement in making the original decision, Canadian border agents are not really atypical of the breed worldwide.
In fact, they're members of any even larger group of bureaucrats in general. Given the least excuse for exercising any form of controlling or restrictive behavior they'll use it to display their authority over us 'peasants' every chance they get. Just as with any other law enforcement agents, watch out for the newly commissioneded ones in particular.
If you're smart, you'll always show maximum deference and, if possible, provide them with some harmless opportunity to display their superior knowledge and power. Deception is your worst move. But playing dumb (not in an aggrevating way) is acceptable. -- "Gee, officer, I'm really not sure about some of this stuff. Is it okay to bring in my own materials to illustrate a talk I'm giving?"
Sure, it's a pain in the backside. But it beats the alternative by a country mile.
this has been coming for awhile, as I see a huge transformation on how americans going into canada are being treated in a fascist manner as my border experiences from 1990 were no problem as I had gone through border from the year 2000 on it has been a nightmare and I don't want to go anymore. I know canadians despise americans and I don't blame them but it's the government and a small percentage of bush drones that are wrecking our good name. It sucks and yes bush is behind it.
Bush: 'Here's a doggie biscuit Harpo! Good boy!'
Harpo: 'Thank you, Master!'
Bush: 'If you toughen up some more, I'll let you take a walk with the Pit Bulls! They've gone through the full training program. Now, Take THIS!!!'
WHAP! WHAP!
Harpo: 'More, Master, More! I love our shared power! Tell me what to do next!'
Even if she was in the right, how stupid was it to try and pull a fast one on the border agents? If we're going to have martyrs in the anti-war movement, can we please get some that aren't so damn self-righteous that they become stupid?
The incident with Bodine is complex and very unusual.
What appears to have triggered the incident were the anti war pamphlets she was carrying in her car. She was stopped from entering Canada with the pamphlets. Those pamphlets were then transferred to a friend's car and as the friend tried to cross the border they were then confiscated by the border authorities. Bodine then tried to reclaim the pamplets and at that time was arrested.
My guess is that it was the large number of pamplets that caused the border guard to question whether they should come into Canada. And because she tried a second time to bring the pamplets in and they were then confiscated and she tried to reclaim them...those were the problems.
I think if she had gotten the pamphlets printed in Canada there would not have been a problem.
My question is could she have paid a duty on the pamplets? and was that what she was trying to do when she was arrested?
The issue seems to be that she was not honest about her intent and tried to get the pamphlets across within a friend's car.
You can read about it here:
http://www.westislandchronicle.com/article-cp35835019-US-antiwar-protester-barred-from-Canada-for-two-...
I was stopped at the border also and questioned for three hours because I had house hold items in my car. I own a house in Canada and had to get documents from the Canadian embassy in NYC to gain entry into Canada. The US and Canada are separate nations and I am not a citizen in Canada. Well this has made me sympathetic to immigrants to the US both legal and illegal. It is stressful to be in a nation where your rights are limited, while others have greater freedom.
Ms. Bodine was allowed across the border with her second attempt so it appears she herself was not on any list. It was always the pamphlets which seemed to cause a problem with the border guards.
A very similar story as reported by Ann Wright a few days ago.
It looks like our border guards are the new Brown Shirts
Heil Harper
We make our reality now.
An interesting 'read between the lines' sort of article.
For instance, when they give her claim that she was stopped because of anti-war pamplets, there is nothing at all about what the Immigration officials say about this. No denial, nothing.
Then, you can put this bit together with the bit much further down in the article that the official reasons why she was stopped is rather bizarre and apparently against policy.
That sounds a lot like she really was stopped by an immigration official who saw the pamplets, but who then later figured out they needed to create another official reason why she was stopped. Thus the creation of the official reason that sounds bizarre to experts.
The Nazis also took away the right to travel....
We have been maligning the Canadians.
Let's look at the other side. After 9/11 the US began keeping some Canadians out for supposedly trivial reasons.
The current status came about after Canada complained and someone decided 'two can play at that game'.
The real issue is - who decided that the FBI files should be given to Canada in the first place. These records contain only arrest records - not result of any succeeding actions. This includes many inaccuracies and goes back many years.
I know of one man who had a felony DUI arrest in 1964 denied entry when he tried to visit in-laws in 2003. The charge had been dropped and apologies made for a false arrest. When he tried to get copies of court documents / arrest records, they were no longer in existence as only records for outstanding debts to society were converted to computerized records in the early '80s. The remaining documents are either destroyed or lost in some warehouse somewhere.
When he tried to explain this to the Canadian consulate - he was told "prove it". Catch 22. The FBI has arrest records but no documents exist with outcome.
Result - he cannot visit his in-laws.
welcome to Amerika and its friends.
What else can you expect from a vassal-state headed by Blair's successor as Bush-poodle? Gwynne Dyer is advising us Canadians to do a deal with Washington on water similar to the one we did on oil (70% of our oil belongs to the US). Otherwise, we can expect to be invaded when global warming causes real water shortages in the US. I guess we'll just have to suck it up and do it, as it's better than having the US marine corps infesting our cities.
I am ashamed and dispair to be represented by the likes of Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister who shapes his thoughts according to the twisted mantra of corporate rule uber alles of George W. Bush. Where is democracy when you need it? We've hit the wall and it's time to wake up and take action.
Oh Jeez..what does this mean? The other people turned back had criminal convictions.
"Ms. Bodine, 22, a recent University of British Columbia graduate who has a boyfriend in Vancouver and who had a possible job waiting for her at Simon Fraser University, said she was stopped because of anti-war pamphlets in her car."
The woman was a graduate of a Canadian university, had a Canadian boyfriend and a possible job in Canada.
Bad news for me...I am an American trying to start a business in Canada. Looks like I have lost my freedom of speech and I wonder whether I will be allowed across the border now.