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 Americas & Beyond | April 2008 
Translators Working 24-7 to Bring Martin Home
 W. Brice McVicar - The Intelligencer
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| | Mexican authorities have already signed the necessary documents to have Brenda Martin transferred home to Canada and officials here are looking after details to see it happens in record time. | | |
A small army of translators is working around the clock on a 400-page document which holds the key as to what Brenda Martin will face when she is returned to Canada.
Northumberland-Quinte West MP Rick Norlock told The Intelligencer the judge's verdict in Martin's case must be translated from Spanish to English before any decisions are made on her return to Canada. The lengthy document, he said, contains very small type requiring 10 to 12 individuals working on the translation.
"They're working on it, I'm told, almost 24 hours a day," Norlock said.
Martin, the former Trenton resident who has spent more than two years in a Mexican prison, is expected to be home within weeks. Mexican authorities have already signed the necessary documents to have her transferred home to Canada and officials here are looking after details to see it happens in record time.
Norlock said prisoner transfers generally take anywhere from six to nine months, but Martin's will take much less time.
"I guess the simplest terminology is that we're pulling out all the stops," Norlock said.
However, just what faces Martin when she comes home is unknown. Corrections Canada must perform a "community assessment" of both Martin and her sentencing to determine what her mental and physical health requirements are as well as what facility would best serve her in Canada.
Norlock said he could not comment on whether Martin will serve time in a Canadian jail following the transfer and, if so, where she would be housed.
"That's a decision to be made by Corrections Canada and it has to be made without any political influence," he said.
Martin's friend, Deb Tieleman, said she has been told if Martin serves any time in Canada - which she personally doubts will happen - it will be at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener. That location would be advantageous, Tieleman said, as it is located only five minutes away from her office.
But, Tieleman stressed, she doesn't think Martin will be made to serve time in Canada.
"I don't believe Foreign Affairs or Corrections Canada has any intent in having Brenda doing any jail time," she said.
Tieleman, who has vehemently criticized the Canadian government's handling of Martin's case in the past, said there has been a major improvement in her dealings with Foreign Affairs in the past few weeks.
"I'd say Foreign Affairs initially dropped the ball with this, but the government has now picked up the ball and is running with it," she said.
Martin was sentenced to five years in prison last week after spending more than two years in a Mexican prison. She had been charged with knowlingly accepting illicit funds.
Martin was employed as a chef for a former Albertan, Alyn Richard Waage, in Puerto Vallarta for 10 months in 2001. Waage was operating an Internet fraud scheme at the time though he pretended to be an investor. He was eventually arrested and is serving a 10-year sentence in an American jail.
Through further investigation Mexican officials came to believe Martin was also involved in the scheme.
She was charged with money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy.
Despite a sworn affidavit provided by Waage saying Martin had no knowledge of his operations and her own continued profession of innocence Martin has remained in jail since Feb. 17, 2006.
bmcvicar(at)intelligencer.ca |
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