ZGram - 2/22/2003 - "Update on the Zundel Front"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Sat, 22 Feb 2003 06:20:47 -0800
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny: Now more than ever!
February 22, 2003
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
Our server was down briefly yesterday - NOT because of sabotage, but
because of huge, huge traffic. It took a few hours and some extra
money to get it up again. That is the reason why yesterday's ZGram
was only sent to you this morning.
So far, the highest voting count "pro-Zundel" was 35% that I know of.
At that point, apparently, the CTV station decided to pull the poll
and drop it as fast as they could. One small victory!
Since then, I learned of another poll, this time at www.canada.com
About half an hour ago, it looked pretty much like the CTV poll when
it started - but this one is a bit more detailed, with four
categories, to wit:
Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel is asking for refugee status in Canada.
What should happen?
13.64% --- We should welcome him and give him a fair hearing.
1.95% ---We should welcome him, but prosecute him for hate crimes.
19.81% ---We should refuse to let him in.
64.61% ---We should re-route him on the first plane back to his native Germany.
To me, this means that Canada, in general, is sick and tired of
having to foot the bill for the Holocaust Lobby. Less than 2% feel
the need to prosecute Ernst for "hate crimes" - which, by the way, he
was never criminally charged with, much less convicted for in Canada.
The Human Rights Tribunal that ruled that the Zundelsite contained
"hate", is an administrative body - and is the very entity that also
ruled that "Truth is not a defense."
And, as a sidebar, remember how the Mayor of Toronto, Barbara Hall,
when challenged by defense attorney, Doug Christie, to point out to
the Tribunal just where she found some "hate", sat there silent with
a beet-red face ...until the Tribunal Chairman took mercy and called
a coffee break.
And, never forget, the Zundelsite is MY baby, not Ernst's Zundel's
baby, and always has been. Just because the Human Rights Tribunal,
that disgrace to Canadian justice and fairness, refused to let me
tell them so on the very first of the hearing in 1997, has ruled it
is a "hate site", does not make it true at all. This is the very
outfit that admitted in its ruling five years later that HAD THEY
PERMITTED ME TO SPEAK, WHICH THEY DID NOT, the entire obscene
hearings would never have gotten off the ground!
If they now want to challenge the First Amendment in America, let
them just go ahead and try.
=====
Many people have asked me why Ernst asked for asylum in Canada when
that was the very country he vowed never to foot in again. Remember
that he did not do so voluntarily. As far as I am concerned, he was
kidnapped under false pretenses - allegedly he missed an immigration
hearing and overstayed his visa - by American law enforcement
officials doing (having to do?) the bidding of the almighty Holocaust
Lobby and its aficionados in our government. I don't know. Maybe
Canada is a signatory to whatever treaty says you don't deport a
person to the very country where he will go to jail for years because
he challenges the Holocaust? I am only allowed to speak to Ernst 10
minutes every day, and we have more important things to discuss.
=====
My strategy of forcing the mainstream media onto the Zundelsite seems
to be paying off. So far, we have had 75 articles in major Canadian
papers - and, by and large, we have not been misquoted. Mark Weber
of the Institute for Historical Review, who handles my media queries
for me, always tries to paint the larger picture and international
ramifications that the Zundelsite matter and this arrest have brought
to the fore one more time. This is NOT about Ernst Zundel and Ingrid
Rimland per se. This is another attempt to force censorship laws
onto the Internet. For the most part, the tone of most write-ups
and electronic broadcasts has been poisonous, but already the
uncomfortable "tar baby" aspects of this case creep in: What to do
with Ernst Zundel who is getting ready to expose, once more, the
sham of those outfits feeding at the Canadian taxpayers' trough.
An interesting article, making my point, appeared in the Ottawa
Citizen, dated yesterday:
[START]
'Just watch me' kick Zundel out: Coderre
Coderre vows to keep Holocaust denier from exploiting refugee system
Norma Greenaway
The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, February 21, 2003
CREDIT: Louie Palu, The Canadian Press
GRAPHIC: Ernst Zundel peers from a van window after being delivered
to Canadian officials in Fort Erie by U.S. immigration officers.
A tough-talking Immigration Minister Denis Coderre indicated
yesterday he's prepared to act to thwart Holocaust denier Ernst
Zundel's attempt to claim refugee status in Canada.
"Just watch me," declared Mr. Coderre when he was asked what measures
are available to him to bar someone from getting access to the
country's refugee system, a process that can last years.
Though privacy requirements prevent Mr. Coderre from discussing the
Zundel case by name, the minister acknowledged the Immigration and
Refugee Protection Act gives him the power to order the removal of
someone from Canada before the refugee process begins if, for
example, that person is a convicted criminal.
"Yes, I have the possibility," Mr. Coderre told reporters. "But I
won't go further. I'm not talking about the case."
Mr. Zundel, who was forcibly returned to Canada from the United
States on Wednesday, is a German citizen who lived most of his life
in Canada. In 1968, he briefly sought the leadership of the federal
Liberal Party in the contest won by Pierre Trudeau. The Nazi
sympathizer moved to Tennessee in 2001 after angrily denouncing
Canada's attempts to silence his anti-Semitic views.
Mr. Zundel was forced out of the U.S. for allegedly overstaying his
visitor's visa, and is being held in an immigration detention centre
at Thorold, Ont. He is seeking refugee status because Canada no
longer considers him a permanent resident.
Mr. Zundel was convicted in the early 1990s of breaking Germany's
anti-hate laws and fined $9,000. There also is an outstanding warrant
for his arrest on suspicion of incitement of hate, stemming from his
Web site, German Embassy official Harry Adelt said yesterday. The
Canadian Human Rights Commission also ruled last year that Mr.
Zundel's Web site spread hatred.
For its part, Germany appears to be adopting a hands-off approach.
Mr. Adelt said the government has no plans "at this moment" to seek
Mr. Zundel's extradition, a process he described as complicated and
time consuming. "But if the Canadians want to deport him, they can do
it," he said.
Government insiders said Mr. Coderre is seriously considering using
the administrative process within his department to order Mr. Zundel
deported rather than allowing him to make a refugee claim to the
independent immigration and refugee board.
Lawyer James Chalk, national director of the Association of
Immigration Counsels of Canada, says Mr. Coderre would be foolish not
to use the provision and nip the controversy over Mr. Zundel as soon
as possible.
"If I were the minister I would be shooting every angle to get him
out of my hair," he said.
Using existing ministerial power to declare Mr. Zundel inadmissible
to Canada because of his criminal record could result in his being
shipped out within two weeks, Mr. Chalk suggested.
The Canadian Alliance and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler led demands inside
and outside the Commons for Mr. Coderre to evict Mr. Zundel as
quickly as possible.
"The minister has the option under the immigration act to summarily
dismiss any refugee claim and to clear the way for deportation and
that's what he should be doing," said Alliance MP Diane Ablonczy, the
party's immigration critic.
Mr. Cotler, a Montreal MP and leading human rights activist, says
it's ludicrous to think Mr. Zundel would qualify as a refugee who has
a well founded fear of persecution if deported to his native Germany.
He argued Germany is a democratic country where he would get a fair
trial, and that Mr. Zundel should not even be allowed to apply for
refugee status.
NDP Leader Jack Layton called the Zundel case a "tragic outfall" of a
system that he maintained must be honoured to protect the rights of
legitimate refugees. He insisted Mr. Zundel's refugee claim will be
rejected in the end but that the government has to follow the "laws
that are laid down."
(Source:
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=0469158e-fe63-46c4-aa33-b6e07bfbae23
)
[END]
=====
And, yes - Ernst has retained Rocco Galati, described by yesterday's
Globe and Mail as "...a Toronto lawyer known for strong words and a
mercurial courtroom demeanor - and for representing refugee claimants
whom Ottawa declares deportable threats to national security...as
Canada figures out what to do with him."
How about letting him go back to planting his peach trees in the
hills of Tennessee where he belongs?
====
Finally, if you really strive to even begin to understand the finer
points of this newest attempt to silence and deport Ernst Zundel,
search for the article "The case is troubling, but the principle is
clear" by Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International
Canada. I don't have time to find the URL for you on my ever more
sluggish computer.
For further information, go to the Zundelsite, www.zundelsite.org -
and don't forget to help support this newest round with your
donations.
Ingrid