Dear Stockwell Day,
I support Mr. Arar's plea for the government to act immediately and implement fully Justice O'Connor's recommendations.
Sincerely,
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A OA6
October 15, 2006
Dear Prime Minister,
In June, the overwhelming majority of members of the UN Human Rights Council voted to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This was a momentous achievement for the advancement of international human rights.
The Declaration has been under development for more than two decades. Throughout all those years, Indigenous peoples in every region of the world have continued to be uprooted from their lands, subject to discriminatory laws and policies, and targeted for violence and repression.
The international community must send a clear message that such abuses not be tolerated any longer. The Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an important framework affirming the right of Indigenous peoples to maintain their distinct cultural identities and calling on states and Indigenous peoples to work together in a new spirit of partnership.
States as diverse as Norway and Mexico have agreed that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an appropriate and effective framework for encouraging and guiding the reconciliation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies.
It was deeply disappointing therefore that Canada was one of only two states to vote against the adoption of the Declaration by the Human Rights Council.
Your government has failed to provide a credible explanation for its opposition to the adoption of a Declaration that Canadian officials played a key role in drafting. I believe that Canada’s opposition to the Declaration was unnecessary. Canada’s opposition was harmful to the cause of human rights.
This Fall, the Declaration will come before the UN General Assembly. I urge you to ensure that Canada does not take any action that would delay the adoption of this vitally important human rights instrument or in any way undermine the positive message of its adoption by the international community.
Sincerely,
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A OA6
October 15, 2006
Dear Prime Minister,
In June, the overwhelming majority of members of the UN Human Rights Council voted to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This was a momentous achievement for the advancement of international human rights.
The Declaration has been under development for more than two decades. Throughout all those years, Indigenous peoples in every region of the world have continued to be uprooted from their lands, subject to discriminatory laws and policies, and targeted for violence and repression.
The international community must send a clear message that such abuses not be tolerated any longer. The Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an important framework affirming the right of Indigenous peoples to maintain their distinct cultural identities and calling on states and Indigenous peoples to work together in a new spirit of partnership.
States as diverse as Norway and Mexico have agreed that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an appropriate and effective framework for encouraging and guiding the reconciliation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies.
It was deeply disappointing therefore that Canada was one of only two states to vote against the adoption of the Declaration by the Human Rights Council.
Your government has failed to provide a credible explanation for its opposition to the adoption of a Declaration that Canadian officials played a key role in drafting. I believe that Canada’s opposition to the Declaration was unnecessary. Canada’s opposition was harmful to the cause of human rights.
This Fall, the Declaration will come before the UN General Assembly. I urge you to ensure that Canada does not take any action that would delay the adoption of this vitally important human rights instrument or in any way undermine the positive message of its adoption by the international community.
Sincerely,
Saturday, October 14, 2006
To: info@leader.ir
Your Excellency,
Please release Ramin Jahanbegloo on bail. I am seeking information concerning any charges and the nature of the evidence against him. Please inform me of the date of any trial sessions which may take place. I encourage you to drop any charges against him which relate solely to his peaceful exercise of his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression and association. If Ramin Jahanbegloo were to be convicted and imprisoned solely on the basis of such charges, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience, and would call for his immediate and unconditional release.
Cc:
assemi@iranembassy.org
dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
hadadadel@majlis.ir
Sincerely,
Please release Ramin Jahanbegloo on bail. I am seeking information concerning any charges and the nature of the evidence against him. Please inform me of the date of any trial sessions which may take place. I encourage you to drop any charges against him which relate solely to his peaceful exercise of his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression and association. If Ramin Jahanbegloo were to be convicted and imprisoned solely on the basis of such charges, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience, and would call for his immediate and unconditional release.
Cc:
assemi@iranembassy.org
dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
hadadadel@majlis.ir
Sincerely,
Friday, October 13, 2006
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Dear Stephen Harper,
Canada needs a National Water Policy to address the following:
Canada needs a National Water Policy to address the following:
- The free market doesn't guarantee access to water.
- Bulk exports could open the floodgates to trade challenges.
- Canada's water supply is limited.
- Public water is safer, cleaner and more affordable.
- Water is essential for people and nature.
Sincerely,
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Send a message to Victoria's Secret CEO
Tell them to stop the clearcutting (for their catalogue), click here.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Another instance of police brutality in Winnipeg
by Tamara King
Winnipeg teen says cops roughed him up on the weekend because of his skin colour. The 16-year-old was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by a pair of police officers in the city's North End about 9:30 p. m. Sunday.
As he tried get out of the car, the teen says a cop swore at him and told him to get back in the car. The high school student then asked the officer to "say please." [Cheeky!]
"That's when he frowned at me and told me to get the f--- out of the vehicle. [Would he have treated a white passenger with such contempt? And violence?] He grabbed me by the sweater and elbowed me in the face and he threw me to the ground, and both officers were kneeing me constantly," the teen said at a news conference yesterday.
"There's no reason for this. The only possible thing I have in mind is racism. I did not provoke anything."
After the confrontation, the teen was arrested. He said he was held at the District 3 North End police station on Hartford Avenue until about 3 a. m. Monday.
He has been charged with [as if] assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. The teen - who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act - denies the charges.
"Basically, I went completely limp, and they continued to beat on me," he said.
Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput confirmed the allegations are being investigated by the Winnipeg police Professional Standards Unit - the unit that investigates its own officers.
At this point, the teen's claims are allegations and have not been proven in court. Lorraine Ducharme was driving the teen - who is a friend of her 16-year-old daughter - to his North End home.
Ducharme isn't sure why police pulled her over at Redwood Avenue and Salter Street in the first place, but said she received two tickets for seatbelt violations after her daughter's friend was loaded into the cruiser car. "It was just a reason after the fact. That's the way I saw it," Ducharme told the Sun yesterday. The teen's family says they're filing a complaint with the Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA), the body that investigates complaints against police. As of yesterday, a complaint had not been filed, but a LERA spokeswoman said they are "familiar" with the allegations.
In a Sun interview yesterday, the teen's aunt produced a note from the teen's trip to the Misericordia's Urgent Care Centre. The teen said he suffered from internal bleeding in his ear, a mild concussion and a sore neck.
The teen is described as a young leader in the aboriginal and Metis communities. An army cadet who also plays hockey, the 16-year-old student sits on an aboriginal board aimed at tackling racism, his family says.
Winnipeg teen says cops roughed him up on the weekend because of his skin colour. The 16-year-old was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by a pair of police officers in the city's North End about 9:30 p. m. Sunday.
As he tried get out of the car, the teen says a cop swore at him and told him to get back in the car. The high school student then asked the officer to "say please." [Cheeky!]
"That's when he frowned at me and told me to get the f--- out of the vehicle. [Would he have treated a white passenger with such contempt? And violence?] He grabbed me by the sweater and elbowed me in the face and he threw me to the ground, and both officers were kneeing me constantly," the teen said at a news conference yesterday.
"There's no reason for this. The only possible thing I have in mind is racism. I did not provoke anything."
After the confrontation, the teen was arrested. He said he was held at the District 3 North End police station on Hartford Avenue until about 3 a. m. Monday.
He has been charged with [as if] assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. The teen - who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act - denies the charges.
"Basically, I went completely limp, and they continued to beat on me," he said.
Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput confirmed the allegations are being investigated by the Winnipeg police Professional Standards Unit - the unit that investigates its own officers.
At this point, the teen's claims are allegations and have not been proven in court. Lorraine Ducharme was driving the teen - who is a friend of her 16-year-old daughter - to his North End home.
Ducharme isn't sure why police pulled her over at Redwood Avenue and Salter Street in the first place, but said she received two tickets for seatbelt violations after her daughter's friend was loaded into the cruiser car. "It was just a reason after the fact. That's the way I saw it," Ducharme told the Sun yesterday. The teen's family says they're filing a complaint with the Law Enforcement Review Agency (LERA), the body that investigates complaints against police. As of yesterday, a complaint had not been filed, but a LERA spokeswoman said they are "familiar" with the allegations.
In a Sun interview yesterday, the teen's aunt produced a note from the teen's trip to the Misericordia's Urgent Care Centre. The teen said he suffered from internal bleeding in his ear, a mild concussion and a sore neck.
The teen is described as a young leader in the aboriginal and Metis communities. An army cadet who also plays hockey, the 16-year-old student sits on an aboriginal board aimed at tackling racism, his family says.
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