[antiwar-van] SEPT 16: Major News Coverage of Anti-War Activist Arrested by Border Agency

[Shannon Bundock]

MAJOR NEWS COVERAGE OF ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST ARRESTED BY
BORDER AGENCY
______________________________________
>>>CANADA.COM (The Province Newspaper)
"American anti-war activist faces immigration hearing
today"
Read the Story on CANADA.COM (The Province Newspaper)
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=b8f2c0d6-25ce-444f-ba2b-532fab32d7f7&k=32871

>>>CBC NEWS
"B.C. detention was bid to silence anti-war activists,
American says"
Read the Story from CBC NEWS:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/09/16/bc-arrest.html
______________________________________

(See below for text of articles)

In the evening of Friday Sept 14th, anti-war activist
Alison Bodine did a CBC radio interview from the
immigration detention cells at Vancouver International
Airport. Since then, her case of harassment and arrest
by Canada Border Services Agency has exploded across
media in BC and Canada.

She was released from detention Friday night, only
hours after that CBC story aired. Today, Canada.com
and the Province Newspaper published a story on her
case. CBC radio did another interview at 10am and
followed up with a online news story.

Alison has received hundreds of messages of support
from activists and groups from Canada and
internationally - including the huge outpouring on
Friday Sept 14th, with over 80 people demanding her
freedom in front of the Citizenship and Immigration
Canada office within hours of her arrest.

This case is clearly an attack that goes beyond Alison
herself. To stand behind Alison is to defend the
democratic rights of all immigrants, refugees,
"non-status" people and non-residents.

Send Support Letters to: free_alison_bodine at yahoo.ca
Updates at: HTTP://WWW.MAWOVANCOUVER.ORG


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Full Text of Articles:
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FROM: CANADA.COM (The Province)
-------------
AMERICAN ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST FACES IMMIGRATION HEARING
TODAY

By Kent Spencer
The Province

Sunday, September 16, 2007

An American anti-war activist, who was jailed
overnight in Surrey, faces a hearing today that could
ban her from Canada for two years.

Alison Bodine, 22, believes she was arrested by the
Canada Border Services Agency because she was carrying
publications opposing Canadian military actions in
Afghanistan.

"[Canada's border guards] identified me as a political
activist," she said yesterday. "I haven't done
anything illegal. I've been a student at UBC for four
years and crossed the border dozens of times."

Bodine was released by border guards Friday night
after a radio interview with her was broadcast from
jail earlier in the day and a demonstration held on
her behalf.

The immigration hearing is slated for 2 p.m. at 300
West Georgia. Vancouver immigration lawyer Gabriel
Chand said the hearing will determine if Bodine should
be banned from Canada.

"They believe she misrepresented herself [entering the
country last Monday]," he said. "I don't believe she
did."

Chand said the case is unusual because Bodine was on
her way out of Canada on Thursday when she was
arrested on a Canada-wide immigration warrant.

"I was surprised. Usually they wouldn't pursue the
matter because she was leaving," he said.

Bodine believes the episode is meant to "intimidate"
others who are opposed to what she called Canada's
"war" in Afghanistan.

"I never expected to be jailed for my beliefs," she
said. "Being in the Surrey lockup was alarming.

"My release from jail was a victory but I want all
allegations against me dropped."

The Canada Border Service Agency refused comment.

Bodine said four bags of items that officials seized
include a book of Ansel Adams's nature photos.

Seventy-one Canadians have died since Canada's
military mission to Afghanistan began soon after
terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001.

According to Foreign Affairs, Canada has allocated
$616.5 million for aid, covering 2001 to 2009. Foreign
Affairs says Canada has helped clear about one-third
of the country's 10 million to 15 million mines. Some
2,500 Canadian troops are committed to remain until
2009.

kspencer at png.canwest.com

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FROM: CBC NEWS
-------------

B.C. DETENTION WAS BID TO SILENCE ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS,
AMERICAN SAYS

An American peace activist, who was detained by
immigration officials in B.C. for two days, is
accusing Ottawa of engineering her confinement to
silence critics of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Alison Bodine, 22, of Broomfield, Colo., was carrying
anti-war pamphlets in her car when she was arrested
Thursday at the Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey,
B.C., which is the main crossing between Vancouver and
Seattle.

Bodine, who studied physics at the University of
British Columbia, said she works with an anti-war
group based in B.C. called Mobilization Against War
and Occupation.

When she approached the Peace Arch crossing, Bodine
said Canadian border officials told her there was a
Canada-wide warrant for her arrest.

She spent Thursday night in a jail in Surrey and then
was transferred to a holding cell at Vancouver
International Airport before being released Friday
night. She told CBC News she still hasn't been told
what crime she is accused of committing.

"All I've been told is that I have an admissibility
hearing coming up on Monday at two p.m. at the
immigration offices," Bodine said on Saturday. "I do
not get to hear my full case until that hearing."

Bodine said other activists should worry she was
arrested.

"This was a bit of a test, to see what happens when
they arrest someone who isn't agreeing with their
current foreign policy."

The Canada Border Services Agency said it could not
comment on specific cases.

Canada has about 2,500 soldiers deployed in
Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Canada started the
mission in early 2002, in the wake of the U.S.
invasion that overthrew the Taliban government.

The United States has thousands of troops in
Afghanistan and about 160,000 in Iraq. 



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