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 Editorials | Opinions | March 2008 
Time of the Essence to Free Jailed Canadian
 The Enterprise Bulletin
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It used to be that it meant something to be a Canadian citizen.
It used to mean that, civilians travelling abroad had the protection of the well-respected Canadian government behind them. That meant other countries, especially those friendly to Canada's interests, would honour your rights without question. Or our government would know the reason why.
What in the world happened to change all that?
Any ideas Helena Guergis, our local Member of Parliament and the secretary of state (foreign affairs and trade)?
Brenda Martin is a Canadian citizen who has been held, without trial, in a Mexican jail for about two years.
As her mother told the media this week, Ms. Martin was in a cell with 11 other prisoners, some convicted, some not. One of them gave birth in the cell, and for all we know, is still there, with her baby.
These deplorable conditions would never exist in any Canadian jail. Ms. Martin has been charged with money laundering and with being involved in an Internet scheme to bilk people out of their savings. Her former employer is currently serving jail time in the U.S. for these crimes but both he, and Ms. Martin, have sworn she had nothing to do with the scheme. She was his chef, for Pete's sake, not his accountant.
After she left her job, Ms. Martin invested money in her employer's company, she says, still unaware that there was anything shady in the enterprise.
If that's all she did, she is no more guilty than the investors of Hollinger newspapers are guilty of former press baron Conrad Black's felonies.
Most Canadians have investments in companies they know little or nothing about - beyond their bottom line. Perhaps many of us would be horrified to learn how our RRSPs are fattened.
But we don't belong in jail. |
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