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 Editorials | Issues | March 2008 
Media Raise Awareness of Martin's Plight
 Carissa Cosgrove - Loyalist College
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| | Marjorie Bletcher of Trenton waits and prays for the release of her daughter Brenda Martin, who is in prison in Mexico. (Carissa Cosgrove) | | |
Marjorie Bletcher prays everyday that her 51-year-old daughter will be released from a Mexican prison and safely returned to Canada. At least now she has regular conversations with her.
"If it hadn't been for the media, nobody would have known about Brenda and I wouldn't get that phone call once a week," she says.
Bletcher had been helpless to improve the conditions surrounding her daughter's arrest and subsequent time in prison, mostly because she was unable to access information about her.
When Martin was first imprisoned, Bletcher had infrequent contact with her daughter, who was only able to call collect, she is now able to speak to Martin once a week through a Canadian consular service.
Over the past year, contact with Martin has improved, and appropriate legal help has been employed for her. Bletcher feels the changes can be attributed to the awareness created by the media outlets that have told her story.
"Charles Rusnell did the very first story, and I'm most thankful to him," she says.
Rusnell is a journalist for the Edmonton Journal, who first met Martin in Mexico in 2003 while working on an investigative piece about Alan Waage in Puerto Vallarta. He was able to help Martin and Bletcher gain weekly communication through the Canadian Consulate in Guadalajara.
"The once-a-week phone contact that the Canadian consulate puts through from Guadalajara to the prison to me, it isn't a lot of time, but at least I still know she's living," says Bletcher.
In October of 2006, Martin's ex-husband called Rusnell asking for his help in acquiring an affidavit from Waage. Rusnell was able to connect the man, and an affidavit was prepared, declaring Martin innocence.
"I knew from talking to people who were directly involved with the scheme that she had nothing to do with it," he says.
Rusnell also contacted The Belleville Intelligencer with the story, bringing W. Brice McVicar onto the scene. McVicar continued to pursue the story for about ten months, in communication with Rusnell, before any other interest developed.
Recently, W-Five did a feature story on Martin, meeting with her mother, and also visiting Martin in jail. The story is credited with breaking the news nationally.
"Once W-Five went and did a piece, and got into the prison, everybody jumped in then," Rusnell says.
Rusnell and McVicar have both been covering what they believe to be a case of injustice.
"Her human rights have been violated. Under international law, you must have a translator in court appearances," says McVicar.
Recently, Liberal MP Dan McTeague got involved, bringing a national profile to the story.
"Once Dan got into it, he really brought a little more profile to it, because you finally had someone in parliament standing up and saying, you know, there's a woman in Mexico whose rights have been violated, she's languishing, and we need to do something as a country, that has propelled it into more of the national spotlight," says McVicar.
Since then, junior minister Helena Guergis has been removed from the file, and Maxime Bernier, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minster has met with his equivalent in the United States to discuss the case. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has telephoned Mexican president Felipe Calderon to discuss the matter, and the Mexican embassy in Toronto officially reports this matter will conclude soon.
Bletcher is now able to report to her daughter that Canadians are standing by her, and she is not alone any longer.
"I tell her, all of Canada are trying to do something for you, so don't give up, you can't give up," Bletcher says.
Martin's lawyer has provided Mexican government officials with legal precedent for extradition in her case.
"All I think is that this shows what the media can do when journalists do their job properly, when they do what they should be doing," Rusnell says. |
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