#301. July, 1996
CSIS Calls Itself "Canada's
Political Police" & States ARA Torched Zundel's House
Since the outrageously biased Heritage Front Affair Report published
by the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), a group of appointed
political has-beens and bagmen, we have had serious concerns that Canada's
security apparatus is utterly out of control and is spying wholesale and
contrary to the CSIS Act on legitimate, non-violent dissent. Some very
disturbing confirmation of our fears has recently come our way.
In February of this year, Kitchener, Ontario electronics businessman
Michael Rothe was interviewed by two CSIS agents, who identified themselves
to him as such and showed ID. They were identified as Peter and Angela.
Rothe had organized several meetings in Kitchener for British historian
David Irving, who has since, under pressure from the censorship lobby been
banned from Canada, while planeloads of Tamil terrorists and Jamaican drug
pushers and gunmen seem to have open access to this country. The interview
was taped. The revelations on this tape are staggering!
ANGELA: "Have you heard of the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service?"
PETER: "You can bet it's real!....
I'll explain what we are. First, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
is like the BFK in Germany." These are the dreaded so-called Federal
Constitution Protection Police (Bundesverfassungsschutz), who spy on the
German right and are blatantly a political police force. Just in case the
frightened German immigrant didn't get the point, Peter added: "We're
the political police. Angela and I are from the counter-terrorism branch.
... We are interested in the Heritage Front."
He was then asked a number of questions as to how he got involved in
politics, how he'd been contacted by the Heritage Front and what he thought
of this group, which CSIS, through its agent Grant Bristow had helped fund
and lead!
PETER: "Did you ever meet Paul
Fromm. He's C-FAR and CAFE. The school teacher from Mississauga. He would
have been at the this David Irving [meeting]."
False!!! Fromm was actually in Vancouver that day.
PETER: "In Toronto, Wolfgang
[Droege of the Heritage Front] has been
much troubled by a group that calls itself Anti-Racist Action, ARA. This
is a collection of anarchists, Trotskyists, Stalinists."
ANGELA: "The ARA that Peter described
firebombed Ernst Zundel. I'm sure you've heard about the problem various
leaders of the so-called right wing have received firebombs."
She's apparently referring to the May 7, 1995 arson attack on Ernst
Zundel's Toronto residence/office, and firebombings of Don Andrews and
Nicola Polinuk.
PETER: "So, we're interested to
know, ... were there ever threats made to you?"
That ought to put the fear of the Lord into him,
So, here we have CSIS's description of themselves as "political
police". Frightening!
Then, there's the clear assertion that the perpetratrors of the fire
at Zundel's and the
firebombings in spring, 1995, were the ARA. If so, why haven't they been
arrested? Are they being protected by the Canadian security establishment?
Readers should contact Solicitor-General Herb Gray and ask these questions.
Ontario readers should contact Solicitor-General Bob Runciman and ask
why, in light of this information, no charges have been laid by the Metropolitan
Toronto Police in these clearly political acts of terrorism. Had such an
attack been perpetrated on the offices of one the currently privileged
minorities, is there any doubt that every rightwinger to the starboard
of Joe Clark would have been hauled in for questioning?
SIRC's Rosemary Brown Calls for
CSIS Surveillance of the Right
One of the reasons CSIS has drifted into becoming a political police
force is the vile task of supervision performed by the Security Intelligence
Review Committee (SIRC). One of the members of this cozy establishment
club in Jamaican immigrant and NDP-retread Rosemary Brown.
"Canada's spy agency would be making a serious mistake if it relaxed
its vigilance against the growth of right-wing hate groups in this country,
MPs were told [May 15]." (Toronto Star, May 16, 1996) This is a libel
against the populist movement in this country. "Hate"
implies persons who have broken the law, promotion of hatred being contrary
to Section 319 of the Criminal Code. None of the active groups have been
charged, let alone convicted, of promoting hate. "Hate"
is merely a term of abuse used by the politically correct to smear those
who criticize the sacred cows of immigration, multiculturalism, and enforced
bilingualism. "It would be a serious mistake to CSIS, SIRC, or, for
that matter, the Canadian public to believe the right wing is in decline
or does not constitute a threat to this country," Brown told a parliamentary
committee. ... CSIS did identify the extreme right as a cause for concern,
reporting that the North American racist movement is comprised of various
factions without a strong central leadership. "Prominent members of
the extreme right establish the broad directions of the movement, and decisions
on what action to take rest with individuals in small cells, the [annual
CSIS] report, tabled in the House of Commons by Solicitor-General Herb
Gray said," (Sounds like a pretty individualistic, non-violent collection
of groups. Not very scary. "It also said the Canadian racist fringe
continues its contacts with American and European groups with the same
goals." [For shame! Say it's not true! How dare they use their Charter-guaranteed
right to communicate with one another? Call in James Bond!]
Federal Court Rules SIRC Is Biased
in Zundel Case
Under relentless lobbying by the Canadian Jewish Congress and others
the Canadian Government has made it a priority to deny publisher Ernst
Zundel his Canadian citizenship.
This could lead to his eventual deportation and a five-year prison
term in Germany, under that country's brutal anti-free speech laws, which
forbid the questioning of certain historical points of view.
Last year, when Zundel applied for citizenship, then Immigration Minister
Sergio Marchi requested a report from CSIS. CSIS dutifully, as the political
police it has come to be, determined that Zundel, the ultimate pacifist,
was a threat to national security, not because he practises violence or
has ever been violent (even when bombed, firebombed, and assaulted, to
say nothing of thousands of scurrilous and violent phone threats), but
because his followers might resort to violence, although they haven't in
the past.
Zundel's one avenue of appeal against this outrageous finding was to
take his case to SIRC. SIRC, however, had already disgraced itself with
The Heritage Front Affair, a report that was supposed to look at the possible
illegal acts of CSIS spy Grant Bristow, but instead developed into a hatchet
job and rant against the entire populist movement in Canada and included
the trashing of many reputations, including Zundel's.
In an appeal argued June 11 in federal court by Doug Christie, with
able legal research by Barbara Kulaszka, Zundel challenged SIRC for bias.
On August 1, Judge Darrel Heald handed down his jugement. "The Security
Intelligence Review Committee is biased against Mr. Zundel and may not
review his application for citizenship and make recommendations to cabinet.
... The court found that as a previous SIRC report on right-wing activity
in Canada known as The Heritage Front Affair proved the review committee
was biased. The committee labelled Mr. Zundel ... a hate-literature publisher
and member of the radical right." (Globe and Mail, August 2, 1996)
He had never been convicted under Section 319. Indeed, allegations
brought forth by Sabina Citron in this regard were recently withdrawn by
the Crown. In his decision, Judge Heald concluded: "Statements of
SIRC in The Heritage Front Report are more than sufficient to cause an
informed person, viewing the matter realistically and practically, and
having thought the matter through to conclude there is a reasonable apprehension
of bias of SIRC toward Zundel." (p.26)
The CSIS report on Zundel, cited in Judge Heald's decision, is an outrageously
flagrant case of political persecution.
It said:
"The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has asserted that
there are reasonable grounds to believe that ... Zundel will engage in
activity that constitute a threat to the security of Canada in that: Mr.
Zundel plays an important leadership role within the white supremacist
movement in Canada. He is considered the patriarch of the neo-Nazi white
supremacist movement and is often approached for advice and ideological
support." (p.24)
Zundel is not a white supremacist. Surely, political opinions are not
a crime, or at least shouldn't be! There is no evidence that the advice
Zundel gives advocates the violent overthrown of the Government of Canada
or serious acts of violence against property or persons to achieve this
goal, which would be the only things that would make his views a threat
to national security.
The CSIS indictment continues:
"Mr. Zundel espouses radical right-wing causes and is a leading
distributor of revisionist neo-Nazi material. ... Mr. Zundel maintains
white supremacist contacts internationally and channels money through these
contacts to promote his cause." (p.23)
Again, non-violent views, publishing those views, and even contacts
with others of a like mind are somehow a threat to Canada's security.
The CSIS report concluded:
"There were reasonabvle grounds to believe that Mr. Zundel
is in a position to direct his followers to commit acts of serious violence,
and, therefore, will continue to engage in activities that constitute a
threat to the security of Canada."
None of this is based on any evidence of past support for violence.
Of course, any leader may in the future direct his followers to commit
violence, but in a fair system we must judge a person on past behaviour.
The conclusions in the CSIS report on Zundel clearly are contrary to the
definition of a threat to national security contained in the CSIS Act,
which states that a threat to national security "does not include
lawful advocacy, protest or dissent."
Reform Blasts SIRC
In a blunt minority report, Reform MP Val Meredith dissents from The
Heritage Front Affair: Our View, a report of the Commons Standing Committee
on Justive and Legal Affairs tabled in Ottawa in June, 1996.
She writes:
"SIRC claims to be the eyes and ears of the public and Parliament
on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Yet, after months of consideration
of the Heritage Front Affair Report, it is clear that SIRC has not only
been negligent in this role, but deliberately dishonest as well. Instead
of providing Parliament with a thorough and objective review of CSIS' use
of a human source in its investigation of the Heritage Front, SIRC's report
exonerates CSIS and the Source of any wrongdoing. In its exoneration of
CSIS, SIRC ignored or suppressed any evidence that was inconsistent with
their conclusion that the Service did no wrong. SIRC has wilfully misled
Parliament and the Canadian people." (p.41)
Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform Inc. The C-FAR Newsletter is
P.O. Box 332 Stn. B. published monthly. Rates
Etobicoke, Ontario are $16/Year for subscription
M9W 5L3 *E-Mail nstn3125@fox.nstn.ca* or $38/Year for Associate Fee
Support Free Speech -- Support the
Freedom-Site