Secret RCMP Suicide Pilots probe
p2pnet news | Freedom:- Do you reckon the pic on the right is enough to inspire the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team to launch a secret investigation?
It’s the cover for an album by Canadian punk band Suicide Pilots and it shows a kamikaze plane about to dive into the Houses of Parliament.
Could it be the band’s drummer, Jeffrey Monaghan, an environmental and social justice activist from Ottawa, “gained national notoriety when he was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as a result of an investigation into how confidential government plans for the environment were leaked to environmentalists and the media,” as the Wikipedia sums it up.
Could it be both?
“The publicity from the leak occurred 10 days before Canada officially announced its intention to abandon international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change,”says the Wikipedia.
Now, “This is an artistic group; it’s a punk band,” the Montreal Gazette has Monaghan’s lawyer, Yavar Hameed, saying.
“There is information in the context of the investigation which is really analyzing their song titles, analyzing the content of their lyrics, and that is quite troubling because it really suggests an attempt to scrutinize voices of criticism and dissent.”
But, “opposition critics say the police were justified in investigating the band given its name and logo, a reference to 9/11, and the sentiments expressed in some of the band’s lyrics,” says the story, quoting
Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh as stating:
“When you have the name you have and the logo you have, which obviously (refers) to a very serious event, I don’t fault the RCMP or any other security agencies for investigating whether there is anything to it.”
New Democratic Party officials also said the investigation was responsible, adds the Gazette.
“Union and civil rights leaders criticized Monaghan’s arrest as ‘heavy-handed’ and a ‘witch-hunt’ that sent a chill through the civil service,” says the Wikipedia, adding:
“Patty Ducharme, national executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said the Monaghan’s arrest was the first time she had ever heard of a public servant in Canada being escorted out of the workplace in handcuffs.”
(Thanks, Luvie)
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Montreal Gazette – Punk band investigated by RCMP, May 21, 2008
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May 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
if the RCMP was justified investigating them based on some werid logo and song lyrics, then Jon you are going to disappear soon for some of the stuff you write..
nice knowing ya… see ya