Tag: canada

Yves Engler: My 5 Days in Jail as Political Prisoner for Criticizing Israel

I recently spent five days in jail for social media posts critical of Israel and police charges brought against me. It was an unpleasant, though interesting, experience that culminated in a small victory for free speech and Palestine campaigning.

On Thursday February 20 at 9:30 a.m. 30 rallied at the detention centre where I turned myself in for charges related to ‘harassing’ a Zionist influencer and the Montreal police. I told the crowd the charges and conditions brought against me were police and judicial harassment.

More than a dozen police were on hand to monitor those accompanying me at the detention centre. As I crossed over into the police precinct, we chanted “Free Palestine”.

Two inspectors were waiting for me near the door. I was searched twice and only allowed one shirt and pant. They also made me remove my glasses, which was disorienting.

The police inspectors sought to question me, but I refused to talk. I have no problem ‘incriminating’ myself by speaking publicly about state/Zionist abuses, but it should serve a political aim.

Another officer asked the two inspectors if I was to be released, which is common when you present yourself to be arrested. Instead, I was sent to the detention area because the police were seeking stifling conditions for my release and wanted to punish me. There was a lot of yelling from those locked up in adjacent cells. There was nothing except for two benches and a toilet (no seat) with water fountain in the cell. I slept using my boots as a pillow. Five hours and a bad oatmeal cookie later I appeared before a judge by video. The Crown objected to my release, so I was sent back to my cell where I exercised and played imaginary football with a cup. They gave me another oatmeal cookie and bad cheese sandwich. Around 7 p.m. a bunch of us were given our jackets, handcuffed and sent to the Bordeaux prison. Initially, the paddy wagon induced a sense of claustrophobia and it was cold. A man next to me and someone in the wagon ahead repeatedly yelled for heat, which made for a bizarre experience. It was nice to have my first conversation in 10 hours with a Newfoundlander related to former NHL player Michael Ryder, who I played with briefly when I tried out for the Hull Olympiques in the Quebec Junior Hockey League.

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Ontario’s Premier Threatens to Cut Off Electricity to U.S. — Says Republicans Will ‘Feel Pain Like They’ve Never Felt Before’ 

The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has threatened the U.S. over Donald Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on Canadian exports.

After initially putting a hold on his planned tariffs against Canada and Mexico, Trump confirmed this week that he would move forward with plans to 25 percent tariffs on both countries until both countries agreed to his demands surrounding border security.

In an interview on NBC News, Ford said he had never met a single American who supported the idea of tariffs, despite the fact that the majority of Americans voted for Donald Trump.

Ford ranted:

We are the largest purchaser of alcohol in the world. We buy over 3,600 products from 35 states. I talked to the Governor of Kentucky and Mitch McConnell. Don’t touch our bourbon. I’m going after absolutely everything.

And I don’t want to. We keep the lights on for 1.5 million homes in manufacturing in New York, in Michigan, and in Minnesota.

If he wants to destroy our economy and our families, I will shut down the electricity going down to the U.S. And I’m telling you, we will do it.

Ford then went on to say that Americans, particularly those in red states, would feel immense pain as his retaliatory measures.

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JUST IN: President Trump Resumes Tariffs Against Canada, Mexico, and China

President Trump has reinstated his tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after temporarily suspending the tariffs last month during negotiations to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl. 

However, the President told reporters on Monday that there is “no room left for Mexico or for Canada,” citing the “vast amounts of fentanyl” that has come into the U.S.

Trump: No room left for Mexico or for Canada. No, the tariffs, you know, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow… And just so you understand, vast amounts of fentanyl have poured into our country from from Mexico, and as you know, also from China, where it goes to Mexico and goes to Canada. And China also had an additional 10%, so it’s 10% plus 10%. And it comes in from Canada, and it comes in from Mexico. And that’s a very important thing to say.

Trump slapped the tariffs on the three countries under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in February.

  • 25% tariffs on all Mexico imports
  • 25% tariffs on nearly all Canadian imports — 10% on Canadian energy resources
  • 10% tariffs on all China imports

An additional ten percent tariff on China was imposed on Tuesday, bringing the total to 20%.

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Chrystia Freeland Canada Needs to Arm Nuclear Against the USA

Chrystia Freeland, Klaus Schwab’s stooge, has gone rogue and is pitching to become the next prime minister of Canada. She claims that the world is looking to Canada to be the new leader of the Free World. She is advocating joining with NATO against the United States, with Britain and France adding as nuclear powers, all to protect this leftist agenda because they know they are losing support globally. She said:

“The US is turning predator, and so what Canada needs to do is work closely with our democratic allies, our military allies. I would start with our Nordic partners, specifically Denmark who is also being threatened, and our NATO European allies. I would be sure that France and Britian were there who possess NUCLEAR WEAPONS and I will be working urgently with these partners to build a closer security relationship that guarantees our security in a time when United States can be a threat.”

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Jailing Canadians Is Just One Way Government Supports Israel

Canada supports Israel’s violence and apartheid in innumerable ways. Targeting critics of Israel has long been a way Canada assists Palestinian dispossession.

I was recently arrested for social media posts critical of Israel and spent five days in jail to win the right to discuss social media influencer Dahlia Kurtz who pursued charges against me. My experience fits a long history of Canadian police and intelligence services targeting critics of Israel and includes close ties to their Israeli counterparts.

Over the past 16 months Canadian authorities have responded to the popular uprising against Israel’s horrors in Gaza by greatly escalating their assaults on critics of Israel. As I’ve written or discussed, dozens of individuals have been jailed or had their residences raided. In the most egregious abuse of state authority, Ottawa listed the grassroots Vancouver-based Samidoun Palestinian Political Prisoners Network a terrorist organization.

While the suppression has escalated in parallel with the upsurge in activism, it’s been going on for a long time. In recent decades the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) has demonized and targeted critics of Israel. In one of the rare cases that was publicized, at least seven friends of Stefan Christoff were visited by CSIS agents over an 8-month period in 2009 and 2010. They arrived unannounced early in the morning and asked detailed and sometimes menacing questions about the Montreal activist’s work with Artists Against Apartheid or trips to the Middle East.

As Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) engaged in negotiations during the 1990s many Palestinian Canadians accused CSIS of intimidating opponents of the Oslo accords. CSIS allegedly offered cash in exchange for information on those opposed to the PLO’s compromise. A 1994 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs article explained, “CSIS is carrying out a political agenda by targeting only those who are aligned with non-Fatah groups of the PLO — those who oppose the accord signed by the PLO. More than 20 PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] supporters have come forward alleging that they have been interrogated by CSIS.”

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Trans Parent Knifes Young Children – Esophagus Reportedly Severed – Judge Puts Alleged Stabber Right Back on Streets

A self-described transgender Canadian man allegedly slashed two young children and posted on social media about the incident after he was granted release.

Michael Attwood, 35, who uses the name “Alice,” was charged with aggravated assault after allegedly stabbing the two young children in Grande Prairie, Alberta, on Feb. 19, according to a report from Global News in Canada.

The alleged assailant appeared before a Justice of the Peace but was released on conditions until his next court date on March 13.

A seven-year-old sustained minor wounds from the knife, while an eight-year-old endured severe damage to the esophagus and was hospitalized.

That child remains at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary with a severed esophagus and will have to eat from a feeding tube for months, according to a report from Western Standard, a conservative news outlet in Canada.

The outlet reported that Attwood, who towers at 6 feet 7 inches while weighing 250 pounds, was at first held under supervision in a psychiatric ward, but was released some 26 hours later. Although this information was purged after the outlet’s initial posting due to a Canadian publication ban, an archived version of the website still has the details.

Attwood also posted several haunting statuses on social media.

One included a selfie, along with the caption, “I’m pretty sure I met a queen in emergency tonight. She was so beautiful. And I just had these ratty old clothes on.”

The selfie and captions can also be seen on the archived version of the article.

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Ontario school children face compelled medical surveillance or suspension

Ontario school children are currently caught in the middle of an ongoing issue regarding student rights, medical privacy, and the power of public health authorities. Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA), students attending Ontario schools are required to be vaccinated against certain diseases unless exempt for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons.

However, the recent push by public health officials to have students disclose their vaccination status and face suspension for non-compliance is raising serious privacy concerns.

The problem lies in the ambiguity between ISPA and the Education Act. ISPA stipulates vaccine requirements, but suspension orders are the responsibility of school principals under the Education Act, not public health authorities. This confusion is leading to violations of students’ fundamental right to a free public education, with some students at risk of being unlawfully suspended for failing to disclose their vaccination status.

The pressure to disclose private medical information is causing significant distress among parents and children alike. There are increasing concerns about the safety of centralized digital health databases, which have been vulnerable to data breaches and unauthorized access. With healthcare data a prime target for cyberattacks, parents are understandably worried about the security of their children’s sensitive medical records—which is big business for hackers.

Parents are resisting this growing pressure, with some viewing the disclosure demands as a violation of the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). PHIPA requires informed consent before the collection of medical information and protects against coercion. However, the current approach by threatening suspension or else puts this principle into question.

The Ministry of Education was contacted for clarification, but media representatives Ingrid Anderson and Brook Campbell failed to respond days later. The inquiry focused on the confusion between ISPA and the Education Act, and how these conflicting laws are affecting students’ right to education. Additionally, clarification was sought on how medical privacy is being protected for parents wishing to uphold PHIPA.

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Yves Engler: I’m Being Charged for Responding to Anti-Palestinian Hate on X (Twitter)

UPDATE:  After writing the report below, the Montreal police claimed that Engler was victimizing the police by writing the report below.   Engler wrote this update before being taken into custody.  Engler says that a new investigator has told him that the Montreal police will be charging me with intimidation, harassment, harassing communication and “entrave” (interference) towards the original police investigator.

Canadian activist Yves Engler was arrested in Montreal on Thursday for pro-Palestinian posts on Twitter (X).  He was charged with harassment and indecent communication on the social media platform.  He will be arraigned on Friday.  Thousands of people have already written to the Montreal police urging them to drop the charges.   We urge our readers to do the same.

Engler has written 65 articles that have appeared on Antiwar.com here and here.  He is the author of 12 books.  Engler was notified in advance and wrote this on his website the day before his arrest.

Tomorrow the Montreal police will arrest me for posting to social media against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Today I received a phone call from a Montreal police officer by the last name of Crivello. She asked me to come to a downtown police station where I will be charged for harassment and indecent communication. Crivello said a complaint was submitted against me months ago by a legal firm on behalf of racist media personality Dahlia Kurtz. Crivello said I had described Kurtz as a “genocide” supporter and “fascist” on Twitter. Guilty as charged.

On dozens of occasions I’ve responded to Kurtz’ racist, violent anti-Palestinian posts on X. Six weeks ago I wrote an article noting:

Amidst this ever-worsening holocaust in Gaza, the media and politicians want us to believe Canadian Jews are the real victims. In an egregious example, the Winnipeg Sun just published “Dahlia Kurtz mobilizing pushback on Canada’s Jew-hate problem.” Palestinian suffering is omitted from the long profile of an unhinged Jewish supremacist. The article describes Kurtz combating “‘Free Palestine’ hatefests” and selecting Justin Trudeau “winner of my 2024 Jew-Hater of the Year Award.”

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Trump Says Talk Of Wanting Canada to Be A Part of US Is Serious

President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he’s serious when he talks of wanting Canada to be a part of the United States.

Trump was asked by Fox News host Bret Baier in an interview that aired ahead of the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 about comments made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the issue on Feb. 7. In remarks caught on a hot mic, Trudeau told attendees at the Canada–U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto that Trump’s wish for Canada to become a part of the United States “is a real thing.”

Baier asked Trump if it is indeed a “real thing” as Trudeau suggested, to which the president responded, “Yeah, it is.”

“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen,” Trump said. “Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?”

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Alberta to impose EV tax starting next Thursday

Starting February 13, Alberta’s electric car drivers will be subject to an EV tax. A $200 surcharge will be added to their tab when they renew their annual registration.

“Owners of electric vehicles use the same roads as other Albertan drivers,” said Alberta’s Minister of Service and Red Tape Reduction, Dale Nally. “It’s only fair they contribute to public services, including those that ensure the continued safety and upkeep of Alberta’s roads.”

The province says it addresses concerns on tax fairness, according to a prior government news release, with drivers of internal combustion engine vehicles paying similar fuel tax charges each year. 

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