Letter to Toronto Police Chief Boothby:
I wrote the following letter to Toronto's new, "politically correct"
Chief of Police, outlining and stating for the record all the Human Rights
violations perpetrated against me in just two cases. They are merely used
as convenient points and intellectual anchors to illustrate the Human Rights
rot that has set in. These violations are symptomatic and have been repeated
over and over again for 20 years at an increased pace. The arson and the
parcel bomb in my specific case are only the natural and logical result
of a lack of impartial, proper and timely law enforcement generally.
I have widely circulated this letter to the Chief of Police. I have sent
it to the UN and worldwide Human Rights organizations and interested hard
print news media, broadcasters, columnists and commentators etc. Read for
yourself what the situation is:
November 29, 1996
Dear Chief Boothby:
I am once again turning to you directly because I see no movement in the
investigation of the arson of my home on M ay 7, 1995, nor in the case
of the pipe bomb that was sent to me on May 20, 1995.
Within less than ten days of the arson, I contacted Detective Constable
Mike Jackson, (badge Number 1157) of 51 Division, and gave him information
provided to me by a Toronto taxidriver, Mr. _______, who responded to the
$5,000.00 reward offer I made for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the arsonist. Mr. ______ had a contact who actually heard
the arsonist admit that he had torched my house, in return for a payment
of $200.00. From this man we were able to provide the police with the suspect's
name, nationality, age, address and physical description. I spoke with
Mr. ________ this past week, and he said the police have not contacted
him ever in regards to my case.
There is also the Toronto emergency glass installer who saw the arsonist
twice, face to face - once carrying the gasoline can towards my building,
and minutes later when he ran towards him, after fleeing the scene of the
crime. According to newspaper reports, this man said he could not recall
the arsonist's face. Has this man ever been put under hypnosis, to assist
him in his recollection, so he could provide authorities with a description?
According to law enforcement officials I have spoken to in Europe and the
United States, this practice is not uncommon amongst law enforcement agencies.
I have been assured by you that you are investigating what is a politically
motivated act of terrorism against me. This horrific crime almost cost
the lives of five people, some of whom had to jump naked out of windows
while the building was engulfed by flames!
Fire Marshalls estimated the physical damage done to my building and its
contents was $400,000.00 - including the destruction of my 5,000 volume
research library, a lifetime collection of files, most of my business records,
and my irreplacable paintings. My neighbor's building suffered a loss of
$200,000.00 in damages.
The Marxist-terrorist group, Anti Racist Action, had put up posters with
explicit messages that they were going to drive me out of my neighborhood
and kill me, and put up one instructional poster complete with details
of how to burn my house down using a Molotov cocktail as the arson-weapon.
(I refer to the ARA as a Marxist-terrorist organization based on reams
of information and documentation found on the Internet, and supplied to
your Intelligence services department by my wife, showing their links to
worldwide terrorist groups and activities.)
Six months after the arson, while I was still trying to rebuild my house,
my business and my life, a gang of ARA youth plastered my neighborhood
again with the same Molotov cocktail poster. This was on November 9, 1995,
in commemoration of Kristallnacht (the sacking and burning of Jewish synagogues
in Germany in 1938).
I complained by telephone to 51 Division, and got a cold-shoulder, disinterested
response. I then went in person to try and swear out an information. I
was turned down. Police refused even to fill out a report. That evening,
at 7:00 pm, a group of youth, including two ARA leaders, were seen postering
my neighborhood with anti-Zündel posters. I called 51 Division again
and explained the situation. Once more, I got the cold-shoulder. Then I
drove to 51 Division to swear out an information, or at least get an occurrence
report written out. Nothing! I was treated with basic indifference and
even cold and hostile stares and glances. When I left the police station,
I saw two cruisers leaving the parking lot, but the ARA poster brigade
by that time had moved on.
As you are aware, the Marxist terrorist group Anti Racist Action held an
all-day "Shut the Nazi Down" demonstration outside my residence
on October 25, 1996. During the course of the event, which lasted approximately
seven hours, the ARA repeatedly chanted, "Lock the Nazis in, burn
the house down" in violation of section 264 of the Criminal Code.
Despite the fact that the infraction occurred in front of numerous Toronto
police and plainclothes officers, no arrests were made.
Just after the demonstration I sent a letter to Bob Stradthee, Unit Commander
of Intelligence Services (copy attached). I have received no reply, so
now I am directing my concerns to you. I have learned from information
gleaned from United Nations sources that the demonstration itself, along
with the threats that were uttered, are also contrary to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Canada
is a member of the United Nations, and is bound to uphold the treaties
and agreements of which she is a signatory. What follows is a list of my
rights that were violated on this day, and the appropriate articles from
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that apply. (Enclosed is a copy
of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United
Nations document A/34/46 entitled "Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement
Officials", 1979).
First, I have a right to work at the employment of my choosing,
at reasonable compensation, and make material gain from things that I author.
I have the right to earn a living at a level that ensures a comfortable
existence for myself and my family. As the business I operate is legal,
and my publications are protected by Section 2b of the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms, it was an infringement of my rights to even allow
the demonstration aimed at shutting down my lawful business to occur at
all! (See Article 23, sections 1 and 3, and Article 27, section 2).
Section 2b of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: protects the
right of a minority to express its view, however unpopular it may be. All
communication which convey or attempt to convey meaning are protected by
s.2(b), unless the physical form by which the communication is made (for
example a violent act) excludes protection. The content of the communication
is irrelevant. The purpose of the guarantee is to permit free expression
to the end of promoting truth, political or social participation, and self-fulfillment.
That purpose extends to the protection of minority beliefs which the majority
regards as wrong or false.
Article 23, section 1: Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection
against unemployment.
Article 23, section 3: Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable
remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of
human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social
protection.
Article 27, section 2: Everyone has the right to the protection of the
moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or
artistic production of which he is the author.
Second, I have a right to life, liberty and security of person.
Having to endure the taunts of death by arson repeatedly over a period
of seven hours is a violation of Article 3 and Article 12.
Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his
privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor attacks upon his honor and
reputation. Everyone has the protection of the law against such interference
or attacks.
Third, I have a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
(See Articles 18 and 19) and participation in the cultural fabric of society
that allows me to express my views in a manner that allows free development
of my personality (See Articles 22 and 27). Despite the media's relentless
portrayal of me as a "Neo-Nazi" and a "hatemonger"
I have always maintained that I am a German, defending my ethnic group
and homeland against what I feel is a blood-libel and distortion of history.
The things I say, write and broadcast are my attempts to give the German
view of World War II history in general and the events called the "Holocaust"
in particular. I have never been charged under the hate laws in Canada.
The courts of the land, and not the media, determine whether what I produce
is "hateful". Just because my views are "unorthodox"
or "unpopular" doesn't mean I am deserving to be the target of
demonstrations, death threats, arsons, pipe bombs etc. I am still a human
being with legal, civil and human rights, guaranteed to me by the United
Nations.
Article 18: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,
and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion and belief in teaching, practice, worship
and observance.
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and
to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, and
regardless of frontiers.
Article 22: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security
and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international
cooperation in accordance with the organization and resources of each State,
of the economic, social, and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity
and his free development of his personality.
Article 27: Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural
life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement
and its benefits.
Fourth, the expression of my views cannot be hindered or interfered
with (See Article 19), or denied me because of my political opinions (See
Article 2).
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and
to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, and
regardless of frontiers.
Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth
in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall
be made on the basis of political, jurisdictional, or international status
of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent,
trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Fifth, the State is bound to provide me with a social order that
ensures the expression of my right (See Article 28) and can not engage
in any activity aimed at the destruction of my rights and freedoms (See
Article 30). Allowing the ARA to demonstrate with the intent of ruining
my business, and failing to arrest them when they clearly violated the
Criminal code in uttering threats, I feel, is a violation of these articles.
Article 28: Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in
which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully
realized.
Article 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying
for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to
perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms
set forth herein.
Sixth, I am equal before the law and entitled to equal protection
without discrimination. (See Article 7). To allow a mob of hooded demonstrators,
who I feel had a hand in last year's arson of my property, to repeatedly
taunt me with threats of another fire over a span of seven hours is not
only disgusting and unconscionable, it is a violation of my rights. (See
the U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers, which prohibits
cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment, even during circumstances that
constitute times of political instability or public emergency. Perhaps
the police were reluctant to make arrests on that day because the demonstration
occurred in conjunction with city-wide demonstrations, but this does not
exonerate the police from carrying out their responsibilities).
Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination
to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against
any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any encitement
to such discrimination.
Seventh, I am entitled to be free from attacks against my privacy,
family, home, correspondence, honor and reputation, and am entitled to
the protection of the law against such attacks (See Article 12).
Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his
privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor attacks upon his honor and
reputation. Everyone has the protection of the law against such interference
or attacks.
Finally, a friend of my wife's, who is of Black and Brazilian descent,
and an employee of ours who is from Madras, India, were subjected to taunts
and racial slurs by the demonstrators that were demeaning to their cultural
heritage, in full view of the police. They were called "coconut,"
"Oreo", "whitewash", "sellout", "pig"
etc. . . How ironic that these epithets came from the lips of self-proclaimed
"anti-racists"!
Why were they not charged under Canada's Hate Laws?
It has been over 18 months since the arson of my home and business occurred,
yet there has been no apparent progress in the investigation of what your
department rightly calls an act of terrorism perpetrated against me. I
find this especially infuriating since I have provided you with a videotape
of two agents from Canada's spy agency CSIS, asserting that they know the
ARA fire-bombed my house! Numerous inquiries on my part about the disposition
of this case are routinely met with a deafening silence or evasive explanations,
In view of the above, I have now taken the extraordinary step of informing
twenty-four Human Rights organizations worldwide and the United Nations
leadership and Human Rights specialists of what is happening to me here
in Canada . . . how political terrorists are allowed to torch and bomb
me with impunity because I am a political dissident, of German background,
who peacefully expresses an unpopular view of WW II history!
I am sending a copy of this letter along with other recommendations, photos
and videotapes to Mr. Jose Ayala Lasso, the High Commissioner of Human
Rights for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. From now on, when
I travel, I will carry in my passport his emergency FAX and phone numbers
for reporting human rights abuses and harassment as they occur to me or
members of my family.
In the future, any and all infringements of my human rights by either omission
or commission on the part of any and all Canadian agencies, police, tribunals,
customs and immigration authorities etc. who have made my life a living
hell for the last sixteen years will be reported directly to him, at the
United Nations Human Rights Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
I regret having to take these unusual and sweeping measures that place
Canada under the watchful scrutiny of official bodies with international
jurisdiction, but I feel I have little choice. After all, the Canadian
government recently escalated its long-standing persecution of me, by falsely
claiming that I was a security threat, and tried to railroad me by means
of a tribunal which was poised to call secret witnesses - all with the
intent of deporting me - at the behest of a vociferous minority with a
powerful and politically well-connected lobby who has doggedly harassed
and pursued me for the last 16 years because they want to silence my viewpoint.
(See the enclosed booklet, "Ernst Zündel: One Man's Quest for
Truth, Freedom and Justice").
The Federal Court has since ruled in my favor, stating that this tribunal
(SIRC) was biased against me, and ordered the proceedings against me to
stop. Significantly, the Federal government has filed an appeal and is
even considering such extraordinary measures such as rewriting Canadian
law to enable them to have a second opportunity of trying to create a legal
basis for ultimately deporting me.
I have been a peaceful permanent resident of Canada for 38 years, and have
exercised my political dissent solely in a non-violent manner, ever extending
the opportunity for my critics to dialogue and air their perceived grievances
against my writings and broadcasts in open debates. An offer which still
stands! Their response has been continuous harassment and persecution,
which Canadian officialdom has allowed to continue unabated, by their now
institutionally ingrained habit of repeatedly denying me my human rights.
These extraordinary measures are necessary because I feel all other attempts
on my part, and other avenues I have pursued using all channels of the
government system have miserably failed.
I await your response to my letter.
Ernst Zündel
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