The Central
Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada and the
Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission of the CPC join with many
other organizations across North America in opposing the impending
extradition of John Graham to South Dakota, and in demanding
that his appeal against the extradition be heard by the Supreme
Court of Canada.
John Graham, an Aboriginal
man from Yukon, was a member of the American Indian Movement
during the 1970s when AIM was resisting deadly attacks by the
FBI and goon squads controlled by corrupt Pine Ridge Reservation
tribal officials. Over the past thirty years, he has been involved
in community organizing against uranium mining and other forms
of corporate exploitation of the planet. Several years ago, he
was accused by the FBI and U.S. prosecutors of the murder of
AIM activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, born in Nova Scotia, whose
body was discovered in South Dakota in 1976.
Dozens of Native American
defenders of Aboriginal rights were murdered at Pine Ridge in
the 1970s, the period of the FBI’s infamous covert war
against voices of dissent such as the Black Panthers, AIM, the
anti-war movements, the Communist Party USA and other socialist
groups. For decades, questions have been raised about the FBI’s
role in the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. The Bureau is known
to have spread disinformation that certain AIM members were informants,
with the goal of inciting suspicions and splits within AIM; it
is the view of many that Anna Mae was the victim of this police
tactic known as “snitch-jacketing.”
There
has never been any effort by the FBI and the U.S. legal system
to bring the perpetrators of this reign of terror to justice,
no doubt because the guilty parties are connected with the forces
of state repression. The FBI’s interest in the case of
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash is an attempt to deflect attention from
the persistent allegations of their own culpability in the murder.
The FBI also aims to make an example of John Graham, in hopes
of dividing and weakening the growing Aboriginal peoples’ movements
fighting for their rights which are springing up across North
America.
In our view, these are the
unjust aims behind the charges against John Graham, who was arrested
in Vancouver in December 2003. Since then, Graham and his supporters
have courageously resisted the extradition demand by the U.S.
state. Unfortunately, this campaign has been complicated enormously
by Parliament’s 1999 Extradition Act, which virtually
removes the sovereign power of Canada to refuse such requests
by the United States. In February 2005, BC Supreme Court
justice Bennett ruled that Graham should be extradited to stand
trial, even though she was sharply critical of the weaknesses
of the case, which is based on hearsay rather than any substantial
evidence. Then in June 2007, a three-member panel of the BC Supreme
Court rejected an appeal of the Bennett ruling, despite the efforts
of John Graham’s lawyers, who completely shredded the “evidence” presented
by U.S. prosecutors. In the view of British Columbia judges,
there is seemingly no leeway to refuse an extradition demand
from the United States, even when crucial “witnesses” have
died, or have completely recanted statements made to the police
under coercion.
Our hearts go out to all those
deeply wounded by this tragedy - to the family of John Graham,
who has been incarcerated since June 26 after years of house
arrest, and to the daughters, family and friends of Anna Mae
Aquash, who desire justice. But sending John Graham to stand
trial in the United States will not bring such justice. It is
clear that there are no solid grounds for the U.S. state’s
accusations against John Graham, and no reason to believe that
he would receive a fair trial in South Dakota. The cases of AIM
leader Leonard Peltier, jailed for over thirty years on trumped-up
charges in the 1975 deaths of two FBI agents, and of Graham’s
co-accused Arlo Looking Cloud, who was convicted in 2004 of Aquash’s
murder after a shoddy three day trial marked by revelations of
police payoffs for testimony and violations of Cloud’s
fundamental legal rights, are stark reminders that justice is
not a feature of the U.S. legal system, which is deeply marked
by racism and corruption.
This
case also reveals the trampling of the sovereignty of Canada
and the First Nations by U.S. imperialism, which consistently
violates the sovereignty of countries across the world in its
pursuit of global hegemony. By relying on hearsay and other forms
of “evidence” which do not meet the legal standards
necessary to bring a person to trial in Canadian courts, this
case would set a precedent for any Canadian to be extradited
despite the lack of evidence of guilt. This is much more than
another appalling example of the centuries of racist injustice
against Aboriginal peoples; it reveals that the current Extradition
Act is being used to override Canada’s Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. This is part of the process of “deep
integration” with the United States, which is leading to
the elimination of Canadian sovereignty.
For all these reasons, we
express our solidarity with John Graham and his family, and condemn
the violation of his rights by the governments of the United
States and the Canada.
Thirty years ago, Leonard
Peltier was extradited to the United States from Canada, a decision
for which then-Solicitor General Warren Allmand later apologized.
We must not allow another such miscarriage of justice to happen
today. But time is running short; the extradition could take
place any day, unless the Supreme Court grants leave to appeal.
We urge all Canadians concerned with social justice and democracy
to write letters opposing John Graham’s extradition to
the Supreme Court of Canada, to Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, and to all members
of Parliament.
Central Executive
Committee
Aboriginal People
Commission
Communist Party
of Canada
September 7, 2007
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