cannabisnews.com: Ottawa Strangely Silent on DEA Ottawa Strangely Silent on DEA Posted by CN Staff on August 25, 2002 at 20:43:13 PT By Paul Willcocks Source: Parksville Qualicum News Maybe they just don’t care up in Ottawa that U.S. agents feel free to enter Canada illegally, break our laws and then conceal the evidence from the courts here. For a week I’ve been trying to get someone — anyone — in the federal government to describe Canada’s response to a B.C. court ruling that U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency operatives knowingly broke our laws. B.C Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon found the Americans knowingly snuck into Canada, ran an illegal operation and then tried to conceal their activities from the court — a shocking abuse of Canadian law, she called it. “The illegal conduct is extremely offensive because of the violation of Canadian sovereignty without explanation or apology,” she wrote. Talking to the federal government from B.C. is generally like shouting down a long, hollow tube to a deaf man. But Ottawa should have a response when a foreign government walks all over its police and laws, especially when that foreign government is seeking to have more and more of its agents operating in Canada. Dillon was ruling on a U.S. bid to extradite Brent ‘Dave’ Licht to California to face cocaine charges, the end of a saga that wanders a long, winding path from the DEA office in Los Angeles to a White Rock pier. The DEA plan originally targeted would-be Canadian cocaine importers. Two paid informants were told to pretend to be Colombian drug dealers in Los Angeles with lots of cocaine to sell. They found some interested buyers, and set off on a trail that led to Vancouver. They wanted to follow that trail across the border. The rules governing a DEA operation in Canada are clear. A U.S.-Canada agreement requires the DEA to get RCMP consent. They also needed a special permit from the immigration minister because the undercover agent had a criminal record. And they needed approval from the RCMP’s top narcotics officer to pretend they had drugs for sale. The tactic is illegal in Canada except under tight controls, because of the risk of injustice. When police approach potential buyers, they may be creating a crime that would never have happened without their instigation The Mounties said yes and the phony dealer and his DEA handler came up. But his efforts bombed; no big drug dealers were discovered. The DEA wanted to try again, but the RCMP said no. They had higher priorities. The DEA seemed to accept the decision. But a month later one of the undercover agents entered Canada illegally, and ignoring our law and agreements signed by his country, tried to make a drug deal. Eventually a pretend deal in California was arranged, with Licht. He wasn’t there for the buy, so the U.S. set out to extradite him on conspiracy charges. That’s what led to Dillon’s ruling. The Americans knowingly broke Canadian law and violated international agreements, she found. They conducted an illegal reverse sting operation. They tried to conceal the information from the court. And they never offered any explanation for the illegal acts. (This wasn’t some fluke. Documents showed that the RCMP felt pressured to approve the first operation quickly, because they feared that the DEA would just go ahead illegally.) I expected a run-around from American officials. But surely the Canadian government would have a response to the damaging findings. But it took two days for a spokesman for Justice Minister Martin Cauchon to say he had no comment, although he was considering an appeal — on behalf of the Americans. After more than a week of calls, Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay’s staff still haven’t explained whether the case is an aberration, whether it will affect future DEA activities in Canada, how many legal DEA operations are conducted in B.C. — or even whether they’ve asked the Americans for an accounting for the illegal acts. Our law should matter more than that. Source: Parksville Qualicum Beach News (CN BC)Author: Paul WillcocksPublished: August 20, 2002Copyright: 2002 Parksville Qualicum Beach NewsContact: pqbnews island.netWebsite: http://www.pqbnews.com/Related Articles:DEA Attacks Med-Pot and Hemp http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12993.shtmlPot Policy Scandalizes Drug Czarhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13146.shtmlCannabisNews DEA Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DEA.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by The GCW on August 26, 2002 at 17:06:19 PT NAZI failure, education, indicates there will be less respect than what Hitler's crew allowed the 1st time around.Jesus is still alive. Hitler's mentality is still alive.And You gotta serve somebody. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by letsgetfree on August 26, 2002 at 09:21:47 PT if you haven't noticed.... our government cares little for us or our wants. We want health care education and enviromental spending.but thanks to "think tanks" and media monopolies all we get are tax cuts and spending cuts. So to see the DEAth move in is not so much a surprise as it is a grim reminder that there is no safe place in the world from the Amerikan Empire [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on August 26, 2002 at 08:12:04 PT: So, Canada... Are you (as a Canadian once said to me while standing in movie line in Toronto) nothing but "unarmed Americans" - or are you a sovereign nation? This might be a good time to find out... [ Post Comment ] Post Comment