Blue Like You

Archive for the ‘Brenda Martin’ Category

There is just no end to the complexities of the Brenda Martin story, and half the problem is trying to sort out the fact from the fiction.

Last night on CTV’s The National they played up some breaking news about having gained access to some kind of bank records showing Brenda Martin’s ‘investment’ and a sum of nearly that amount refunded back to her afterwards by Alyn Waage.

I have to ask myself, so what?

Waage has allegedly declared that Brenda wouldn’t be released until a bribe was paid, but Orville at Dust My Broom has confirmation that Brenda denies this.

Charles Rusnell reports that Martin supporters say that Mexico could simply expel Martin, but the CTV story said no - that the Mexican authorities say it’s too late for that.

So where does the truth lie?

Claire Hoy probably has the best take on this to date:

…But there comes a point - at least for me - where the constant carping and the serial whining about your plight changes from legitimate concerns to an annoying sense of absolute entitlement.

Let’s look at the reality here. The main reason her case has dragged on for two years is because she has complicated it, turning it into a constitutional matter before the Mexican courts. That takes time there just as it would here.

And while there is much screaming in Ottawa - where the Liberals, wouldn’t you know, are trying to blame the government for Martin’s plight - the fact is that a two-year wait for a trial is not unusual in Canada, either. Indeed, two years is considered rather swift in legal circles, particularly when it involves serious and/or complicated matters.

Yet we as Canadians, or at least many of us - along with most of the media - have recently adopted the position that if a Canadian is in jail outside the country there’s automatically an injustice being done - to the Canadian.

Meanwhile, MP Rick Norlock gives us his side of the story, saying that it may be a matter of only weeks rather than months before this is resolved. So progress is being made - just not fast enough for Brenda or the opposition parties.

I sincerely hope that once Brenda Martin is back on Canadian soil that she shows some kind of gratitude for the efforts being made on her behalf.

And I look forward to hearing the true story someday.

According to CP, Brenda Martin is outraged that Conservative MP Helena Guergis ‘partied’ while Ms. Martin was “languishing” in her Mexican prison cell.

Jason Kenney is quoted in the Chronicle Herald report with a possible explanation:

Martin’s criminal case was put on hold for two months until a Mexican judge ruled on a constitutional challenge raised by her lawyer.

Conservative MP Jason Kenney last week told The Canadian Press that Guergis couldn’t do much until the judge ruled on the court challenge.

“It was really a bit of a moot question at that point,” Kenney said.

Well, I’m no legal expert, so it’s hard for me to make a judgment on the situation. A bit of moral support couldn’t have hurt though.

In any case Jason Kenney’s recent visit has apparently escaped the minds of the Brenda supporters who have set up a website dedicated to her release. - Former PM Paul Martin is the only politician mentioned on the front page as having visited her:

…Recently, Brenda has been on suicide watch, having been removed from the general prison population several times now. There has been extensive national media coverage on Brenda, who has been emotionally supported by her childhood friend Debra Tieleman. The Government of Canada has failed to act in intervening in this case, despite pleas from citizens around Canada, opposition MPs, Brenda’s mother and Brenda herself. Recently, Brenda was visited by former Prime Minister Paul Martin in prison to offer support.

Brenda feels that if she is not helped now, with the support of the Canadian Government, she feels she will perish in prison…

However, Brenda Martin herself now seems to be fearing a backlash from the Boycott Mexico bandwagon which some over-zealous MP’s had considered mounting.

Just a small suggestion here, but my feeling is that Brenda Martin would garner a lot more support if she and her cheerleaders attempted to tone down the partisan attacks just a tad. By trying to shame the government, they’ve actually ended up alienating a large segment of Canadian sympathy.

Let’s hear the facts. Let’s try to stay focussed and rational.

But partisan sniping is going to come back to bite the opposition, and perhaps even Brenda Martin herself.

Afternoon Update: Brenda Martin is now calling Tory MPs Jason Kenney and Rick Norlock’s visit nothing more than a “dog-and-pony show.”

Unbelievable!!! I guess being a politician means that you have to bite your tongue on occasion. Mine would be been severed by now.

Late afternoon update: Dion Slams Harper for inaction on Brenda Martin. Oh pull-eeze!

Original post:

Last week I was one of the many people feeling outraged about the situation Brenda Martin finds herself in, and I was even asking if we should boycott Mexico. Now I’m starting to rethink that stance.

First of all, as many of my readers had pointed out, choosing to live in Mexico is different from going there for a one week all-inclusive.

Someone who works in ‘legal realm’ made this very pithy comment at the end of that post:

…I’m struggling in this case with supporting her outside of that, because it’s not so cut and dried, and it brings up deeper issues for me with what I think are MORE important concerns regarding Mexico and problems that ACTUAL, “living here” Canadian citizens have had to contend with. And they WERE innocent, without any doubt - I don’t believe that all of a sudden HER situation, her threats of suicide if the country doesn’t step in, are deserving of Canadian interference, any quicker, or before these decent people receive assistance…

One of your bloggers said “Bottom line, when you travel to another country you have to be prepared to deal with their system, their way. Accept it or stay home” - Another said, “when you live or visit in a foreign country you fall under their laws and justice system. The same as foreign nations fall under ours” Well, she chose to go there. To LIVE there. To me, in chosing what she did, she also chose their government, their laws and their way of life…Like it or not, that also includes their justice system!

Exactly.

Furthermore, this seems to have been played up lately by the media, opposition, and even by Ms. Martin and her supporters as an opportunity for some Harper-bashing.

Nothing is good enough for Brenda Martin (Martin must stand trial):

…During the meeting at the Guadalajara women’s prison, Martin said, Kenney also told her that if she is returned to Canada, she will have to serve at least half her sentence in a Canadian prison.

“I told him . . . I am not going back to Canada to go to prison,” Martin said…

…Martin said Kenney and the Canadian government have been ineffectual…

In fact, the Post quotes her as saying, “I think they have done nothing, basically…”

Clearly she is working towards shaming the Canadian Government into action, but my impression is that they are doing everything they can, short of abducting her from prison.

If it were me in that situation, I think I’d be trying to go along with the plan, and cling onto that hope of at least getting out of Mexico no matter what the consequences in Canada. I also think that for someone that ‘weak’ and ’suicidal’, she seems to have great presence of mind in her ability to condemn her own country’s government.

Sorry if I seem heartless and have offended anyone here, but that’s how I’m feeling about it. The Canadian government needs to be doing everything it can, but in the end Brenda Martin chose to live and work in Mexico, and she must have known full well of the primitive and slow-moving legal system there.

It is neither possible nor realistic to expect the Canadian Government to guarantee our Charter Rights in other countries.

I’ve been watching this Brenda Martin situation with a mixture of confusion, outrage and sympathy for the 51 year old Canadian woman who has been stuck in a Mexican jail for two years, and is now on suicide watch. She has been denied rights that we take for granted in Canada such as a timely trial and not being locked up with convicted criminals while awaiting it (for over two years).

Martin has been charged but not convicted with ‘money-laundering’, according to Helena Guergis who was interviewed yesterday on MDL. The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Trade said that Canada doesn’t have control over the legal process in a foreign country, although she assures us she is doing everything she can behind the scenes.

Of course, Dan McTeague is taking advantage of the situation to rip into the Government’s seeming lack of action (Ivison - It’s ‘buyer beware going to Mexico):

Both Dan McTeague, the Liberal MP who performed the role of “point man” for Canadians in trouble abroad for the Paul Martin government, and NDP critic Paul Dewar are scathing about Ms. Guergis’s performance–criticism that goes far beyond the usual partisan carping.

“This is a so-called Secretary of State who is given to condescending remarks and running away from cameras when she is asked to explain herself,” Mr. McTeague said. “She didn’t go to the prison when she was only 18 minutes away to see a woman who’s been mistreated by a judicial system as random as the weather.”

Ms. Guergis cannot be blamed for the Mexican justice system. In fact, the federal government states in large, bold letters on its Web site: “Under Mexican law, you are considered guilty until proven innocent.“

But Canadians have a right to expect the government to go to the wall for them if there is a miscarriage of justice as blatant as in the Brenda Martin case.

“Is the government saying that when you go to Mexico ‘buyer beware — we can’t help you there?’ ” asked Mr. Dewar. “I’m not sure I would book a flight to Mexico tomorrow.”

Both Ivison and the Post editorial board (Try Brenda Martin or let her go) appear to be advocating for the Prime Minister to step in now.

I’m not going to take a stand on that one since I don’t know all the diplomatic machinations that would surround such a move, but I do agree with the Post editorial on this point:

Ordinary Canadians can act, too, by boycotting Mexico as a tourist destination. Ms. Martin’s mistreatment — along with the suspicious deaths of six Canadians in Mexico in the past two years — makes Mexico an unsafe place for tourists.

Support Brenda Martin by refusing to vacation in Mexico. It will become even more difficult to resist the ‘great deal’ of an all-inclusive dirt-cheap vacation if prices go down even further, but it’s time to take a stand.

Whether innocent or guilty, she is a Canadian and as such deserves our support for justice.