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Stop the extradition of John Graham!

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

     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 and Aboriginal Peoples' Commission, Communist Party of Canada, Sept. 7, 2007