SASKATOON – A group protesting the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly says a jailed Manitoba farmer is a political prisoner and has called on Amnesty International to help.
Andy McMechan, a Lyleton, Man. farmer, was jailed July 8 in Brandon, Man. for breaching a court order requiring him to turn over a tractor. He’d used it to haul grain into the U.S. as part of a demonstration against the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain selling monopoly.
In protest, about 75 Farmers for Justice blocked a main street in Regina for about an hour on July 12 and demonstrated in Brandon July 16.
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Ken Dillen, a Saskatoon-area Farmers for Justice member, asked Amnesty to get involved. Amnesty investigates human rights abuses such as torture and cases of prisoners of conscience.
Dillen said McMechan has been harassed and intimidated and endured “almost two years of court-sanctioned recognizance orders that have amounted to house arrest.”
Convicted on permit charge
On March 25, McMechan was convicted of breaking Customs law by exporting grain without a CWB licence and fined about $58,000.
Another Farmer For Justice, Dave Sawatzky, was acquitted of similar charges in May. The crown is appealing both cases.
But Clyde Bond, the crown prosecutor handling the case, said in an interview McMechan was jailed because he repeatedly broke conditions of bail.
Early this year, facing trial, but out on bail, McMechan broke his recognizance by joining another border protest, Bond said.
He was charged but released on condition he stay at least a half mile from the Canada-U.S. border. His farm includes land that adjoins the border.
In March, during another protest, he used his tractor and wagon to export grain.
Customs ordered his tractor seized and when he refused, he was charged with theft over $5,000.
McMechan appealed the order prohibiting him from going within a half mile of the border and the seizure of his tractor. In June, the court dismissed the appeal.
Conditions ‘reasonable’
“The judge found the conditions reasonable and appropriate and (McMechan) was advised to turn in the tractor and comply with the order,” Bond said.
“He didn’t … and the only alternative was to arrest him.”
On July 9, a judge revoked all the previous orders of release and McMechan was detained in a Brandon jail until he deals with the charges.
His trial for breach of recognizance is expected in Brandon Aug. 26.
