The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1. Luc Michaud, a Quebec Hell‘s Angel who, along with coâ€"accused Jacques _ Pelletier _ and Rejean Lessard, were conâ€" victed in the 1985 murders of five members of a rival Hell‘s Angel faction. The bodies were stuffed in sleeping bags laden with concrete and dumped into a section of the St Lawrence River, known as the Hell‘s Angels grave yard. Michaud‘s hearing has yet to be scheduled in Quebec City Supreme Court 2.. Fredrick Thomas Horsman of Lethbridge, Alberta, who was conviet According to Correcâ€" tional Service of Canada, four inmates have already formally _ made _ "faint hope" applications to the courts in which they were convicted. They include: These were 36 highâ€" profile cases when they were tried across the counâ€" try in 1985. All of these men are eligible to apply for early release at any time after serving 15 years." This section (know as the Faint Hope Clause) allows inmates sentenced to life with no parole for 25 years to petition the court to grant them an early parole hearing after servâ€" ing only 15 years in jail. Thirtyâ€"six inmates became eligible to apply last year to have their parole eligibility reduced. our federal inmates Fconvicled of â€" firstâ€" degree murder and sentenced to life in prison have applied for early release under the controâ€" versial Section 745 of the Criminal Code. Inmates applying for early parole include Hell‘s Angels murderer and police killer You said it WHAT DO YOU DO TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY? QUESTION j ; *. d 54 3 KE =~# J Most Canadians think a reduction in a sentence, or parole eligibility, is not Section 745 allows the most brutal murderers in Canada another chance at freedom. We have not forâ€" gotten â€" these murders. These offenders should be serving the full sentences they were given on the day they were convicted. For the victims, time does not heal these wounds. In 1997, Section 745 was amended to exempt mulâ€" tiple _ murderers from being eligible to apply. However, the legislation only affects criminals conâ€" victed after the law was amended, therefore multiâ€" ple murderers like Luc Michaud are still eligible to apply. faim! 4. Richard â€" Jacques Pilon of Quebec made an application _ for _ early release in November. No court date has been set and the nature of his crime is not yet known. 3. Serge Lefebvre, a forâ€" mer Ste. Foy, Quebec police officer was convictâ€" ed of killing two Quebec City constables on July 3, 1985. The slain officers, Jacques Giguere and Â¥ves Tetu, were shot inside a warehouse to which they had _ been â€" called in response to a possible burglary in progress. His review hearing is also pending in Quebec City. ed in the 1985 slaying of 22â€"yearâ€"old Barbara Shelly Burt, whose body was found in her Lethbridge apartment. _ Horsman‘s hearing at the Court of Queen‘s Bench in that town has yet to be schedâ€" uled. (oll NB B S C+. "I‘m an environmenâ€" tal studies student at WLU, and part of an environmental group on campus that is going to clean up Waterloo Park. Every bit counts." "Nothing really. Earth Day is every day." O THE CHRONICL] Jordan Erison Tanya Baxter COMMENT I would follow that brook to a big long point That where the sea trout went in there to spawn I would catch lots of trout it would not take long Some days I would see a big moose swim across the pond Of 43 murderers that applied for section 745 in 1996, 15 received immediâ€" ate parole, 18 had their sentences reduced and seven were denied early release but can apply again in three or four years. More than 70 per cent of these killers have been successâ€" ful at their hearings. Please note: The names of the possible for murderers, and do not know that Section 745 allows for it. I would stop at the highway bridge and look down below I would see lots of sea trout down there in a hole They would come in from the ocean it was close by They would come up the brook when the tide was high Now I dream about those memories. .. now I am 79 Sometimes in my dreams | have a big fish on my line With an old fishing pole and a small hook [ am back there again to that little brook We lived in a little house down by the sea We grew up together we were happy as could be Two brothers and two sisters we grew up side by side And now we are scattered very far and wide I would fish that little brook every chance I got Fishing for sea trout sometimes I got a lot I would follow that brook from the ocean to the hills I would pass an old sawmill with a big water wheel I have good memories of a long time ago When I was a young lad when I went to school It was about a little brook I passed every day Sometimes I would stop there sometimes to play One brother in Alberta two sisters in U.SA. One brother on the east coast very far away And I am in Ontario that‘s the place I want to be Living in Ontario has been good to me Memories offenders were retrieved from _ various _ sources. Background information pertaining to the circumâ€" stances of the offense was obtained â€" from â€" various news sources locally and regionally. Information on some offenders was miniâ€" mal _ or _ nonâ€"existent. Verification of the appliâ€" cants has been provided by Corrections Canada. "I know what it is, but 1 don‘t do much to celebrate it. It doesn‘t really register with me anymore." Randy White, Canadian Alliance Solicitor General critic "We used to do a lot in high school, but we don‘t do much now." Paulette Gehl Chris Scott Bill Sooley, And even if Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew enters negotiations promising, as he now frequently does, that Canadians‘ health care and education are off limits, U.S. negotiators, who dominate the talks, have already declared their resolve to grant transnational corâ€" porations important new powers and access to health care, educaâ€" tion, and every other government seâ€"vice â€"federal, provincial and municipal. No wonder corporations are urging an agreement be reached quickly. Although the FTAA is not scheduled to be completâ€" ed until 2005, the U.S. and others are pushing to have the deal ratiâ€" fied as early as 2003. And at the Quebec City summit in April, negoâ€" tiators expect to signâ€"off on several "early harvest" agreements in the environmentally sensitive areas of forestry, fisheries and energy. In fact, far from being about trade, the FTAA is about placing democracy under corporate control â€" it is about weakening health and environmental protections, privatizing public services, comâ€" inercializing education, and, in general, hindering governments from ever again directly serving the public interest. The stakes for the people of the Americas have never been higher; a confrontation appears inevitable. The mandate of the FTAA is massive. Not only do negotiators plan to adopt and expand existing NAFTA and WTO proâ€" visions on "agriculture", "investment", "market access", "intellectual property rights", "subsidies", "competition policy", "government proâ€" curement" and "dispute settlement", but they also seek to introduce new provisions related to "services‘ such as health care, education, energy, water, broadcasting, publishing, postal services and the enviâ€" ronment. Although the Canadian government continues to deny that health care and education are on the table, the FTAA negotiatâ€" ing group responsible has declared the deal should include "univerâ€" sal coverage of all service sectors". Certainly, if Canada takes a posiâ€" tion at the FTAA similar to its position at the GATS, it will be promotâ€" ing negotiations in which, as the government‘s own WTO position paper states, "nothing is off the table, including the politically sensiâ€" tive areas of health and education." The proposed FTAA would give transnational corporations unequalled new "rights" to challenge and compete for every publicly funded service now provided by governments â€" from health care and education to social security, culture and environmental protecâ€" tion. If adopted, it could remove the ability of every government to create or maintain laws and regulations protecting the health, safety and wellâ€"being of their citizens and the environment they share. Worse, the FTAA would become the model for future world trade agreements, eventually rendering health, environmental and other laws around the world subservient to those of international trade. "Although based on the North is § wia American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), VIEW the FTAA would, according to reports | from its nine negotiating groups, far surâ€" . (Re®e w Prigh ‘ pass NAFTA in its scope and power. It | [R P | would encompass a population of 800 | W‘ 4 million and a combined GDP of $11. trilâ€" ME i it A tion (U.S.). It would incorporate the powâ€" . |FPS} o e i ‘ ers of the proposed services agreement at || â€" n »t the World Trade Organization (WTO) â€" || (% in s ‘ the General Agreement on Trade in | < Services (GATS) â€" as well as those of the ‘ failed _ Multilateral _ Agreement _ on Investment (MAI}. In short, it would comâ€" ‘ PIA%'(]:(%T‘;/TS]G bine the most ambitious elements of every global trade and investment agreeâ€" ment â€" existing and proposed â€" into one hemispheric pact, with sweeping authority over every aspect of life in Canada and the Americas. All of these characterizations are simplistic and misleading. To find out what people are protesting, it is far better to let them speak for themseives. The most succinct, yet comprehensive explanation of the antiâ€"FTAA agenda has been provided by the Council of Canadians. The complete text of their analysis is available at http://www.canadians.org. Here are some ie excerpts: is weekend in Quebec City, leaders from nearty all of the I countries of the Americas will be furthering plans to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) â€" essentially a new economic constitution for the hemisphere. All of the leaders, that is except Cuba‘s Fidel Castro, since he "doesn‘t share our commitment to democracy" (unlike, say Panama, Peru or the Dominican Republic}. Outside a threeâ€"metre fence, approximately 100 citizens will be protesting against these talks, and the globalization agenda that they represent. There has been all kinds of coverage of the fact that a protest is happening, but far less attention to the reasons for the protest. In the absence of any of what Stockwell Day would call "reporters doing their due diligence", the resulting vacuum has allowed proponents of globalization to provide their own negative spin on the protesters‘ motives. The head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has referred to the protest as "a circus", while Prime Minister Jean Chretien has suggested that ‘having some fun" is behind the protest. Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew toid CBC‘s "The House" that protesters would include everyone from "those who do not want (o share our prosperity" with the rest of the Americas to "those who want to save sea turtles". Who‘s afraid of the FTAA? |ANOTHER | VIEW E 272 % 1;;»%*6'5 %'4‘% | We ’ SCOTrT PIATKOWSKI