canada is a banana republic.

we're becoming a puppet state of the US.

i just got done sending this email to Joe Fontana, the MP for London North Centre. please, anyone who reads this and is in London, do the same. copy and paste my letter if you so choose. leave a comment if you do, i'd like to see how many i can get sent. if you're not from London, but are Canadian, you can look up your MP here.

if you're not familiar with the details of the case, go here. if you'd like to do something more, go here.

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Dear Mr. Fontana,

I'm writing you today to express my displeasure with decisions currently being made by the Liberal administration and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. I'm one of your consitutuents, a student at the University of Western Ontario, and a permanent resident of the London North Centre district. Though I'm unaware to what extent you're familiar with the case, a Canadian citizen and former resident of London, Marc Emery, is currently going through the legal proceedings to be extradited to the United States for the cross-border sale of marijuana seeds over the Internet. Mr. Emery is a well-known political activist, and former owner of London's City Lights Bookstore.

As a Liberal voter, I feel that this decision is fundamentally opposed to the values of the Liberal party, and constitutes an unwarranted and unlawful intrusion into Canadian sovereignty by the United States government. Regardless of your opinions on the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana, the fact remains that Mr. Emery's supposed crime, if it is to be punished at all, ought to be punished fairly and justly according to the laws of our nation, not according to the draconian laws of another state.

The on-line sale of marijuana seeds, which contain no THC, and cannot be considered 'marijuana' in any true sense of the word, is an activity which has long been pursued by Mr. Emery and many other Canadian businesses. They provide a valuable service, particularly to medical users of cannabis - considering that several US states and the Canadian federal government have legalized the usage of medical marijuana, it would seem that Mr. Emery's business is growing ever-more legitimate.

The fact is, Mr. Emery is not being prosecuted for the sale of some seeds. Nor was he even arrested by our own RCMP, but rather with the supervision of American drug enforcement officers. This is, simply put, an attempt by the United States to undermine Canada's status as a sovereign nation. He is being prosecuted, by a foreign power, for exercising his right to political assembly and organization in our country. Karen Tandy, administrator of the DEA, said as much in an interview with the Seattle Sun-Times:

"Today's arrest of Mark (sic) Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and the founder of a marijuana legalization group, is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement... Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on."

Marc's arrest is not the result of trafficking in illegal drugs, but is rather an attempt by American interests to stifle the political discourse in Canada by imprisoning a Canadian political activist. I am by no means suggesting that you ought to be opposed to the prosecution of a criminal act, whatever the justness of the laws in question. All I ask is that you see this action for what it is - an unwanted and unjust intrusion into the Canadian political process by a foreign power. It is a well-known fact that the American government is firmly opposed to efforts by the Liberal Party to introduce legislation for the decriminalization of marijuana, and this is merely another mechanism by which their conservative government is attempting to stifle progressive legislation.

As a constituent, I would ask that you simply represent the interests of your riding, and demand that the administration and Irwin Cotler refuse to extradite Mr. Emery to the United States. Marijuana decriminalization is a controversial issue, and many are still opposed to legalization efforts; I respect their opinions. However, I know of no Canadian citizen who would approve of the fact that our justice system and indeed our very sovereignty is under attack by the United States. If Mr. Emery is to be prosecuted, let it be in a Canadian court, under Canadian laws, rather than in a foreign court, where he is apt to be sentenced to life imprisonment, even death, for an activity that would merit only minor sanctions under the Canadian judicial system.

Thank you for your time.

Cordially yours,

Alasdair McMillan

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