For they poor handling of medicinal marijuana issue, Anne McLellan,
Health Canada and the Government of Canada have been recognized or their
assault of freedom. Courts have told Health Canada that its regulations are
unconstitutional because they force people to o without medications or
they have to buy them on the black market, said BCCLA. Health Canada continues to
fight against access, delays reform until the last moment and then does less
the courts require wasting tax dollars, says the BCCLA.
Newshawk: Herb
Source: Penticton Western (CN BC)
Pubdate: January 2, 2004
Contact [email protected]
Website: www.pentictonwesternnews.com/
Address: 2250 Camrose St., Penticton, BC, V2A 8R1
Copyright: 2004 Penticton Western
Association releases 2003 list of people who made a difference
It was a year of the good, the bad and the ugly. The BC Civil Liberties
Association has put together their picks for the people who
made a difference to freedom in 2003.
Beginning with the bad, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz abandoned
his libertarian roots and suggested Canadians should adopt
national identity cards and remarked torture of Canadians is a
legitimate investigative tool, says the association.
Also on the national identification card bandwagon was former
Immigration Minister Denis Coderre. The federal government is also on
the association's list for the worst of 2003. The feds failed to prevent
Maher Arar's deportation to Syria where he was tortured.
Others assaulting freedom are Larry Spencer and David Kilgour for
disparaging comments against same-sex marriage and gays and
lesbians, says the BCCLA.
Principal John Moffat of the Windsor House School and North Vancouver
School district made the list because Moffat banned teaching
about the Middle East after receiving a complaint from a parent and the
district failed to ensure adequate protection for the freedom to teach,
says the BCCLA.
For they poor handling of medicinal marijuana issue, Anne McLellan,
Health Canada and the Government of Canada have been recognized
for their assault of freedom. Courts have told Health Canada that its
regulations are unconstitutional because they force people to
go without medications or they have to buy them on the black market,
said BCCLA.Health Canada continues to fight against access,
delays reform until the last moment and then does less the courts
require wasting tax dollars, says the BCCLA.
Further on the worst list comes former Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.
He introduced two poorly thought-out pieces of legislation
that sought to remove the defense of artistic merit from laws banning
child pornography and adding the poorly defined crime of
sexual exploitation of young persons, says the BCCLA. The other bad bill
was the marijuana "decriminalization" bill, which increased
penalties for cultivation and would have fined more people than are
currently prosecuted for possession.
While talking about marijuana, the association draws issue with the
majority of the Supreme Court of Canada, which refused to strike
down the prohibition of the drug. The group remained silent and deferred
theissue to Parliament.
It was not all bad news for freedom. The association recognizes a number
of individuals and organizations for their efforts.
The BCCLA recognizes Troy Peters, the rookie Vancouver Police Department
officer that blew the whistle on the Stanley Park Six - the
officers that drove citizens to Stanley Park and assaulted them.
Also recognized are Maher Arar and wife Monia Mazigh for their courage
to speak out and hold the government accountable.
Another best from the BCCLA goes to Judy Kornfeld, a library at Langara
College in Vancouver. When the Langara Student Government
refused to permit an Israeli Arab to speak on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict in its building, Kornfeld made a room available in
the library for the talk - which went on without incident.
A group best goes to Insp. Ken Frall and Chief Jamie Graham of the
Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell
for respectively, proposing, endorsing and approving the VPD's new "do
not respond" policy for routine drug overdoses, says the
BCCLA. The policy encourages the timely reporting oft overdoses by
assuring drug users medical personnel, not police, respond to
their calls. Drug users present at overdoses were fearful of calling for
assistance because the police might respond and lay criminal charges
against them, says the BCCLA.
Plenty of recognition should go to all involved in the Vancouver safe
injection site for their hard work and persistence, says the
association.
The Richmond School Board gets recognition for being bad and good. While
it crafted a privacy sensitive video surveillance policy,
it refused to place an absolute restriction on the use of cameras in
washrooms.
And lastly, the Government of Canada did do some things right, says the
BCCLA.It introduce private sector privacy legislation,
which will help protect personal information held in databanks of
private corporations and created the Citizens Assembly to explore
changes to our electoral system.
Canadian Cannabis Coalition
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