Lawyers shun summit

I get several articles about the FTAA every day, but figured this one was 
particularly worth passing on. 

Some sanity still exists, it seems.

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Thursday 5 April 2001

Lawyers shun summit 
Prosecutors say they're being used to control protest 
	by WILLIAM MARSDEN 
The Gazette

Quebec prosecutors are threatening to quit a special eight-member team 
set up by the provincial government to prosecute protesters arrested at 
the Summit of the Americas this month.

They are objecting to what they claim is political interference with the 
judiciary on the part of summit organizers.

One prosecutor has already left the team, and others are expected to 
follow.

Prosecutors say provincial Justice Minister Paul Begin has directed them 
to delay all bail hearings of arrested protesters for the maximum three 
full days allowed by law, as a way of keeping them off the street for the 
duration of the summit, April 20-22.

"This is political interference, and we should not stand for it," said 
one prosecutor who did not wish to be named. "It's a plan of battle to 
hold them in jail. We will not accept these directives."

The Criminal Code allows bail hearings to be delayed for a maximum of 
three "clear days" between the day of the arrest and the day of the 
hearing. This means that protesters could find themselves behind bars for 
five days.

Normally, defendants are processed within 24 hours of their arrest. Often 
they are released the same day from a police station with a promise to 
appear in court.

The prosecutors also say they do not want to prosecute people who are 
protesting against repressive governments represented at the summit.

The Quebec government has built a concrete and chain-link fence around a 
large section of the Old City where the summit is to take place. About 
25,000 protesters are expected to show up.

Jails have been cleared and thousands of police officers from the 
Montreal Urban Community force, the RCMP and the Surete du Quebec are 
being brought in for security.

Prosecutors say they have been told not to subpoena police as witnesses 
during the week of the summit because they won't be available.

Prosecutors noted that the Criminal Code allows them to seek publication 
bans on bail hearings. One prosecutor said he believes that after the 
five days of incarceration, charges will simply be dropped in most cases.

He said the provincial government is just using the judiciary to keep 
protesters off the streets.

Montreal prosecutors plan to make public within the next few days a 
letter of solidarity with the protesters, one prosecutor said.

Prosecutors are negotiating with the province for better salary and 
working conditions.

Quebec prosecutors work in extremely difficult conditions. Most do not 
have computers. Eighty-five prosecutors in Montreal share four 
secretaries. While Begin, as justice minister, is paid $14,496 more than 
his Ontario counterpart, Quebec prosecutors are paid about half as much 
as Ontario prosecutors.

Since The Gazette reported on the poor conditions last month, Begin has 
promised to get the prosecutors computers. But he refuses to connect them 
to the Internet because, he claims, it's too expensive. That means they 
won't have access to online jurisprudence.

Prosecutors complain that they have no time to prepare files and have to 
plea-bargain more than 90 per cent of their cases.

Summit of the Americas

- Where: Quebec City

- When: April 20-22

- The purpose: More than 9,000 delegates from 34 countries in North, 
South and Central America, members of the Organization of American 
States, will meet as part of the continuing process of trying to unite 
the economies of the Western Hemisphere - except for Cuba's - in a single 
free-trade agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

- The opposition: As many as 25,000 demonstrators are expected to descend 
on Quebec City to protest against the FTAA, which they say will serve the 
interests of richer countries and multinational corporations at the 
expense of human rights, the environment and the poor.

- Security: More than 6,000 police officers from across Canada will be on 
duty during the summit, hoping to prevent the chaos and violence that 
have marred similar meetings.

Coming in The Gazette

- Protest then and now: a look at how the activists who oppose 
globalization are like - and unlike - the people who tried to change the 
world in the 1960s.

- On the scene at the pre-summit meeting of international trade ministers 
and international business in Buenos Aires this weekend.

- April 14: a special edition of The Review takes an in-depth look at the 
issues of globalization, pro and con, by Peter Hadekel and Alexander 
Norris.

- April 17-23: comprehensive coverage of the momentous events taking 
place in Quebec City - both inside and outside the security perimeter.


Dru Oja Jay   ||   <http://www.dru.ca/>   ||   <[email protected]>