POLITICAL PRISONERS DR. JAMES SEARS, EDITOR, & LEROY ST. GERMAINE LOSE APPEAL
TORONTO. MONDAY, June 14, 2021. The long awaited decision on the appeal by Dr. James Sears, editor, and Leroy St. Germaine, publisher of the satirical tabloid YOUR WARD NEWS was handed down over Zoom this morning. Judge Peter Cavanagh of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice turned down all defence arguments and upheld the convictions of the two writers on two counts of wilfully spreading hatred against Jews and women, in violation of Canada’s notorious “hate law”, Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code.
Both the convictions and the ruthless sentences, the maximum, a year in prison were upheld. Dr. Sears, in a weighty submission argued that his case had been sabotaged by inadequate representation. His lawyer refused to call expert witnesses. Dr. Sears also argued that the trial Judge Joseph Blouin failed to give adequate reasons for his judgement.
Despite Dr. Sears’ plea to be allowed time to file an already prepared Application for Leave to Appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, both the Crown and the Judge couldn’t wait to consign Dr. Sewars to prison. He was taken into custody that afternoon. He has since been held in the Toronto South Detention Centre at 160 Horner Ave. in Etobicoke.
Leroy S. Germaine, in consideration of his Metis heritage, was given house arrest. That sentence has been nearly entirely served.
Dr. Sears is scheduled for another video conference, June 21, to seek bail pending appeal.
Amnesty International considers a person persecuted or imprisoned for the non-violent expression of their or religious views to be a political prisoner. Despite Canada’s preachy foreign policy about human rights violations in select countries, it is itself a nation that keeps political prisoners.
Paul Fromm, Director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, which has fiercely supported Dr. Sears and Leroy St. Germaine, called the verdict “a travesty. Canada is sinking deeper and deeper into a totalitarian police state, where laws shelter minorities from criticism. I had a bad feeling about this day,” he added. “June 14 is the day, in 1940, when the Soviet communists who had invaded the Baltic States, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, began mass deportations of leaders and intellectuals to Siberia. The choice of this day for Judge Cavanagh seemed almost kabbalistic.
Needless to say, the minority censorship groups that had lobbied hard to shut down the persky satirical tabloid gloated. Global News (June 14, 2021) reported: “
Jewish groups welcomed Cavanagh’s decision. Noah Shack, a vice president with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said Sears had been able to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories, misogyny, homophobia, and racism in their ‘most grotesque forms’ for too long.”
“Shack’s comments show that it is really ideas and political opinions that the censorship lobby want squelched,” Paul Fromm responded.
