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April 4, 2003
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny: Now more than ever!
The Toronto Star, also known in the streets as the Red Star,
has besmirched itself once again with its own poison in an editorial titled
"Show Zundel the door." You find it below, interspersed with some
Zundelsite comments, followed by a reply from the Director of Canadian
Association for Free Expression, Paul Fromm:
[START]
Apr. 3, 2003. 01:00 AM TORONTO STAR
Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel is making a mockery of the
refugee claim process. That's no surprise.
What's more disturbing is how Immigration Minister Denis
Coderre is neglecting to stop the charade.
Zundel, a German-born resident of Canada for some 40
years, is no stranger to notoriety or manipulating the system.
He moved to Tennessee in 2001 in the midst of a
long-running human rights probe, complaining Canada wanted to silence his
views. Indeed, a human rights tribunal ordered him to remove anti-Semitic
hate literature from his Web site. He did not.
(Zundelsite comment: For the Nth time, he couldn't have
removed a comma if he had wanted to. He does not now, nor has he ever, known
the password to the Zundelsite! The much-contested website happens to belong
to me!)
The United States sent him back Feb. 19 for overstaying a
visitor's visa. Zundel, whose bids for Canadian citizenship have always
been rejected, then claimed refugee status.
America doesn't want him, nor does Canada.
[Zundelsite comment: First of all, he was never given a
reason for the refusal the first time. His second citizenship bid was not
rejected - Ernst withdrew it after waiting seven years. And for the record:
He had no problems whatsoever in America. Ask anyone. Unwary American
bureaucrats were disgracefully used by nefarious forces to act as body
snatchers.)
However, Germany does, and has issued a warrant for his
arrest on charges under its hate laws. He was convicted in absentia in
1991.
(Zundelsite comment: As I remember it, he was convicted for
trying to organize the Leuchter Congress, which should have been good news
for Jews and Gentiles alike - namely that no one but no one was
"gassed", since science does not lie, not even for the
"Nazis". But the arrest warrant that is outstanding now is there
for a different reason: It is meant as a salutary lesson for having
exercised free speech - a hard-won right, according to a Zundel Supreme
Court decision in 1992)
Yet this week the Immigration and Refugee Board ordered
Zundel to continue being held in a Niagara Region jail pending his refugee
claimant hearing. No date has been set, and likely won't be for months.
Zundel's case is a black mark on the entire refugee claim
system, already under justifiable criticism.
(Zundelsite comment: Words to the wise! )
The board has a massive backlog and the largest workload
in its history. Nearly 53,000 cases were on the books at the end of 2002.
Government lawyers say Ottawa is still investigating
whether Zundel is inadmissible on the grounds of national security. They
argue he must not be released because he is a public danger who would
spread white supremacist views.
Locking him up is not the answer. Getting rid of him is.
Every time he has a hearing, he gains a platform for his
bottomless well of hatred. Every public appearance is an excuse for his
smirking, misguided followers to gather.
Such nonsense must stop.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service declared Zundel
a danger fully 10 years ago.
(Zundelsite comment: Actually, it was eight years ago. But a
more cogent question is: Did anything dangerous happen in eight years? Was
Canada in peril? Ever? Is it now? What threadbare nonsense is this!)
What more evidence does Ottawa need?
(Zundelsite comment: How about REAL evidence - not
shrieking, smears and innuendo? )
Refugee claimants deserve a fair and expeditious hearing.
If blindingly obvious cases such as this one can't be dealt with in a
timely way, it brings Canada's refugee system into question.
(Zundelsite comment: MORE words to the wise! Hear, hear!)
How can Coderre justify this needlessly long process? This
isn't a case of an unknown claimant for whom officials truly do need time
to investigate properly.
Zundel's continued presence here is intolerable. Kick him
out now.
[END]
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Send your contributions to Letters to the Editor via email
to lettertoed@thestar.ca; via fax
to 416 869-4322; or by mail to One Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E6.
===== ===== =====
Reply to this editorial from the Canadian
Association for Free Expression Box 332, Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3 Ph:
905-897-7221; FAX: 905-277-3914
[START]
April 3, 2003
The Editor, The Toronto Star.
Dear Sir: BY FAX 416 869-4322-- For Publication
Your editorial "Show Zundel the Door" (Toronto
Star, April 3, 2003) confuses real abuse of the refugee system with a
genuine case.
A refugee is a person with a well-founded fear of
persecution on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity or beliefs, provided
that he is non-violent. Germany has draconian anti-free speech laws that
are not comparable to anything we have in Canada. Truth is no defence.
Publisher Ernst Zundel faces five years imprisonment and a heavy fine
should he be returned to Germany.
One may not like his eccentric take on history, but isn't
tolerance and diversity what Canada is all about?
You state: "Government lawyers say Ottawa is still
investigating whether Zundel is inadmissible on the grounds of national
security. They argue he must not be released because he is a public danger
who would spread white supremacist views."
In Zundel's case the threat to national security argument
is completely bogus. After the abuses of the old Security and Intelligence
Branch of the RCMP, Parliament created CSIS in 1982. To avoid abuse or
needless snooping, a threat to national security was carefully defined. It
included espionage, attempts to overthrow the government by violence,
activities directed by a foreign state or "serious acts of violence
against persons or property for the purpose of achieving a political,
religious or ideological objective."
Zundel is a pacifist. He has never been convicted of any
crime, much less a crime of violence, under Canada's Criminal Code.
His views may be reprehensible to many. However, the CSIS
Act makes it clear that non-violent advocacy does not constitute a threat
to national security. Specifically, a threat to national security
"does not include lawful advocacy, protest or dissent."
Ernst Zundel is a publisher, not a terrorist. Let him
stay.
Paul Fromm Director
[END]
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Write to Canada's Immigration Minister and complain
over the unfair treatment Ernst Zündel has received.
Immigration Minister Denis Coderre
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 995-6108
Fax: (613) 995-9755
Email: Coderre.D@parl.gc.ca |
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