Tremaine Free; Christian Evangelist Bill Whatcott “A Security Risk”?
VICTORIA, BC. October 18, 2014. This morning I received a call from political prisoner Terry Tremaine who had just been freed from his vindictive 30 day sentence imposed AFTER he had purged his contempt; that is, removed or asked to be removed (by STORMFRONT) several dozen postings that had been complained of by his longtime tormentor Richard Warman.
Mr. Tremaine had commented to me several days before his release for civil contempt against a law that Parliament has repealed (Sec. 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act): “Those characters is judges robes were determined to give me a custodial sentence. There is terrible overcrowding in Saskatchewan prisons. They were transferring inmates from the crowded jail in Saskatoon to Regina. This was clearly a punitive, political sentence. They should have given me a suspended sentence or an ankle bracelet.”
Political prisoners are clearly treated more harshly in Canada, expense to the taxpayer be damned.
Meanwhile, activist and evangelist Bill Whatcott wanted to visit Mr. Tremaine in prison, partly in support of free speech and partly as the imperative of his Bibilical duty to comfort the afflicted and visit the imprisoned. Unlike many who talk a lot about religion, Mr. Whatcott actually practices what he proclaims. So, he applied to the prison to visit Mr. Tremaine. Mr. Tremaine duly signed an authorization accepting a visit by Mr. Whatcott.
However, no visit ever took place. “Saskatchewan Corrections turned me down as a ‘security risk’,” Mr. Whatcott told CAFE. “I’m not going to break the guy out. He’s only serving 30 days,” he scoffed. “I am not a drug pusher.”
Authorities regularly invoke “security” to justify bullying and repression. Visitors see the prisoners behind a plexiglass barrier. The notion that the 50ish evangelist would somehow be a danger to Mr. Tremaine or the prison is ludicrous. The “security threat” assertion becomes even more inane when we consider that Mr. Whatcott and I both visisted another political prisoner, Brad Love in Lindsay in May. Ontario’s prisons seemed to have no problem with Mr. Whatcott visiting Mr. Love or another female political prisoner, anti-abortion campaigner Linda Gibbons, then incarcerated in Milton in the Vanier Centre for Women. — Paul Fromm
