Activist Obert Madondo’s Hunger Strike Against Canada’s New Draconian Crime Bill
April 9, 2012 by admin
Filed under News Stories
April 10, 2012
Activist Post
By AP
“Canada is following the USA trend of taking away its citizen’s freedoms.” –KTRN
At 12:01am on Wednesday, March 14, Ottawa-based activist and progressive blogger, Obert Madondo, started an indefinite hunger strike to protest PM Stephen Harper and the Conservative government’s new cruel Safe Streets and Communities Act (formerly omnibus crime Bill C-10).
The new law will violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly: the right to equal protection before the law; the right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment; the right to liberty; and the rights of Canadians convicted overseas.
Changes to the youth justice system will victimize and punish our youth: Young offenders will now get stiffer sentences that potentially turn them into hardened criminals, instead of rehabilitating and reintegrating them into society.
The Act will punish the weak and marginalized. The majority of those who will face tougher sentences, extended periods in custody before trial, and extended ineligibility for parole are those with mental health issues, blacks and Aboriginals, who are already oversubscribed in the jail population.
The law’s mandatory minimum sentence requirements will weaken and undermine the Canadian judiciary. The Act will divide society. It will cost Canadian taxpayers at least $15 billion.
Obert’s demands are:
1. The Parliament of Canada should repeal the Safe Streets and Communities Act in its entirety.
2. Former Ottawa Police chief and newly-appointed Conservative Senator, Vernon White, should immediately resign.
3. The federal government should make a commitment to invest 100 times the cost of monitoring and dismantling Occupy encampments across Canada last fall to institute a national inquiry into the case of 600+ missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls.
4. The House of Commons should immediately democratize and improve transparency and accountability.
5. Harper and the Conservatives must stop their war on Canadians and Canadian democracy.
