Letter to the Conservative Party of Canada re: Marc Emery

With plans for protests taking place against Marc Emery’s extradition, I thought I would let people know what a friend of mine is planning on doing:

If you are likely to receive fundraising letters from the CPC, feel free to date, print out and sign this letter and mail it to them in their handy, postage-paid envelopes to protest the extradition of Marc Emery and work towards bringing him back to Canada.

Please spread this as widely as you'd like for others to use.

Cheers.

Dear Senator Gerstein,

Thank you for the opportunity to contact the Conservative Party regarding an important issue.

As I'm sure you are aware, this past week Justice Minister Rob Nicholson approved the extradition order for Marc Emery, a Canadian citizen who will now be imprisoned for five years in the United States for the crime of selling marijuana seeds. While Canadian authorities were aware of his seed-selling business, Mr. Emery was suggested as a supplier for medical marijuana patients by Health Canada rather than put behind bars for seed sales.

While Mr. Emery's arrest occurred under the previous Liberal government, I believe that the Conservative government was given an important chance which would have been legally backed by our extradition treaty to deny extradition to the United States based on the overwhelming difference in punishment between countries. As I'm sure you're aware, our Extradition Treaty specifies that crimes must be punishable by sentences of more than one year in both countries but Canada has never imprisoned Mr. Emery for a period of more than three months and not for selling marijuana seeds. Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that Mr. Emery's arrest was at least partially political in nature as the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States specifically stated that his arrest was a blow against the marijuana legalization movement in its press release announcing his arrest.

I am extremely disappointed that the Conservative government did not right the wrongs of its Liberal predecessors by asserting Canada's sovereignty in enforcement of drug laws and allowed what appears to be, on some level, a political arrest of a Canadian citizen to lead to years of incarceration in the United States.

Until the Conservatives take measures to mitigate the damage done by extraditing Mr Emery by applying to move him back to Canada - a move to which the Americans are amenable - I will not be donating to the Conservative Party of Canada.

Thank you for your time.