According to Dick Cheney “Canada is Too Dangerous”. He Fears Arrest but has not Cancelled his Trip to Toronto

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, October 31, 2013

“Dick Cheney cancels Toronto trip, says Canada is too dangerous”.

Too dangerous for what and for whom?

Lest you be confused, that was back in April of 2012, when he decided to cancel his trip to Toronto.

Cheney was indicted for war crimes by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal in a historic judgment in May 2012:

Chief Prosecutor of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission v. George Walker Bush et al

According to a March 2012 report:

Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney has cancelled an April [2012] appearance in Toronto citing concerns Canada is too dangerous.

“He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high,” said Ryan Ruppert, president of promotions company Spectre Live Corp., which had booked Mr. Cheney for an April 24 appearance at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

In September [2011], Mr. Cheney was speaking at a private club in Vancouver when protesters massed outside the front door harassing ticket holders and in one instance, choking a security guard.

 The former vice-president was reportedly held inside the building for more than seven hours as Vancouver Police in riot gear dispersed the demonstrators.

 Richard Cheney, former Vice President of the United States of America is scheduled to speak in Toronto Ontario on 31 October 2013 at the Toronto Global Forum, hosted by the International Economic Forum of the Americas at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Latest news suggests that Cheney’s visit to Toronto is on. But so is the citizens’ movement to arrest him.

The malign Dick Cheney is in Toronto this week, having apparently conquered his fear of Canada and the anti-torture protests that made him cancel an April speech last year. I don’t know how another war criminal has made it across our border — Kissinger visits often — but there Cheney will be on Halloween at noon, speaking to the Toronto Forum of the International Economic Forum of the Americas in the glassy erotic climes of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

What ho! Blood will run from the taps. A sudden chill will envelop the city.

There had been worries. “God forbid there was ever a [health] emergency,” his speech booker said of the April cancellation, given that the last time Cheney was in Canada, he had had to hide inside for simply hours from Vancouver anti-torture demonstrators (Toronto Star, October 31, 2013)

Canada is still a dangerous place for former vice president Dick Cheney. Lawyers have warned in a letter to Toronto Chief of Police that Once Richard (Dick) Cheney enters Canada:

• All of the torture alleged against and admitted by Dick Cheney, is deemed to have taken place in Canada, pursuant to (s. 7(3.7) of the Criminal Code of Canada (CC);
• criminal proceedings can be commenced against him in Toronto Ontario BC (CC, s. 7(5);
• Canada must ensure that Dick Cheney is either investigated and prosecuted for the indictable offence of torture in Canada or extradited to another country willing and able to do so (Convention against Torture, Art. 7);
• Toronto Police Service (TPS) officers are duty bound to arrest and detain Dick Cheney for investigation on suspicion of torture as part of Canada’s mandatory legal obligation to prevent and punish torture globally;
• TPS officers are duty bound to arrest Dick Cheney to ensure the proper conduct of his investigation and prosecution for torture in Canada or his extradition to a country willing and able to prosecute;
• TPS officers are duty bound to arrest Dick Cheney to prevent him from escaping to the United States or some other jurisdiction where he will have ‘safe haven’ from prosecution for torture;
• the arrest of Dick Cheney can be carried out without warrant in advance of the commencement of criminal proceedings in Canada.

In their letter, Lawyers against the War duly reminded Toronto Chief of Police William (Bill) Blair and Attorney General of Ontario John Gerretsen, that “TPS officers also have a mandatory duty to prevent offences against the administration of justice such as enabling a torture suspect (in this case a person who has admitted to authorizing and failing to prevent torture) to escape prosecution.”

We remind you that neither Dick Cheney’s status as former vice president of the United States nor his status as a guest of the Toronto Global Forum or the International Economic Forum of the Americas constitutes a defense to torture or confers on him any temporary immunity from Canadian law. As you are aware, TPS officers are compelled by law to ensure that the criminal law is administered in accordance with s. 15(1) guarantee that, “[e]very individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination…”

Michel Chossudovsky is Member of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) which initiated the prosecution directed against Bush et al in May 2012

The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2013

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Articles by: Prof Michel Chossudovsky

About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality. He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983) He is the author of 13 books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015). He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]

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