[Iowa-dx] Fwd: Council of Canadians: SPP trade pact bars peace activists, admits dangerous pesticides (Release)

[hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/1004-07.htm
http://www.canadians.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2007
1:31 PM

CONTACT: Council of Canadians
Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 234;
Cell: (613) 795-8685; meera@canadians.org


SPP Lets Pesticides In, Shuts Peace Activists
Out, Says Council of Canadians


CANADA - October 4 -The federal government needs
to revisit its border security arrangements with
the United States in light of two peace activists
being denied entry to Canada this week based on
FBI records, says the Council of Canadians.

?The barred entry to Canada of two U.S. peace
activists is proof that the so-called Security
and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) between the two
countries has its priorities backward,? says
Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council
of Canadians.

?What kind of ?partnership? lets higher levels of
pesticides into Canada in the name of regulatory
harmonization but stops peace activists at the
border in the name of harmonized policing.?

On Wednesday, October 3, Medea Benjamin, founder
of the anti-war women?s group CODEPINK, and
retired Army colonel Ann Wright were denied entry
into Canada at the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Bridge.
They were told that they could not cross the
border into Canada because their names appeared
on an FBI database that Canadian border agents
rely on to screen visitors.

A key initiative of the SPP?s ?security agenda?
is to, ?Work to ensure compatibility of systems
to share data on high-risk travellers and? to
provide for risk management decisions on
travellers destined to or transiting North
America.? Meanwhile, the SPP?s ?prosperity
agenda? calls for the harmonization of regulatory
standards on pesticides and other chemicals,
which has already resulted in Canada allowing
more pesticides on hundreds of fruits and
vegetables to match lower U.S. standards.

?Most people would agree that pesticides pose a
significantly higher risk to Canadians than peace
activists,? said Barlow. ?Any agreement that
blocks the free movement of people based on
political beliefs, ethnic background or who their
friends are but that allows even more hazardous
chemicals across the border clearly has nothing
to do with the real security of North Americans.?

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