The Insiders
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Sep
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UBC Student, SDS Activist Banned from Canada
Posted by: Neal Yonson | September 4, 2008 | 14 Comments
UBC student and activist Brian Gehring has been banned from entering Canada. Brian was one of the 19 people arrested in the Knoll Aid 2.0 protest that happened on campus last spring in response to the widely opposed construction of the underground bus loop and destruction of the Grassy Knoll.
Brian, an American citizen, had been spending the summer in Bellingham and was attempting to return to UBC to inquire about outstanding academic issues and find information on applying to grad school. Canadian immigration officials detained him at the border and interrogated him at length about his involvement with SDS and Knoll Aid. Officials searched his car and confiscated his cell phone and downloaded its contents. Brian does not have a criminal record and has not even gone to trial yet regarding his involvement with Knoll Aid.
The RCMP cited that he had broken the law by trying to enter Canada without a study permit. Brian mentioned that this reason was superficial and contrived as his interrogation focussed solely on his student activism. In addition, American citizens are normally permitted to enter Canada for up to 6 months without a permit. Officials often deny entry to people with criminal records (which Brian does not have), but they went beyond this measure in Brian’s case. They outright banned him from Canada for a year and told him that he would never be eligible to receive a study permit to study in Canada again. He has not yet graduated from UBC.
There was no word on Brian’s plans to appeal this decision.
Comments
14 Comments so far
This is a tragedy. These authorities should be ashamed.
Wow – that’s incredible. I’m actually shocked at this. But does this also mean that Nate Crompton, who also has charges pending against him, won’t be able to leave the country to study at the University of Kent? I’m seriously curious about this.
Thanks Blake, for reporting this. It is the first I have heard of it.
With Brian’s exile it feels to me like we are undergoing the crushing of a movement. Since the April 4th arrests, UBC activists have been systematically persecuted. With little exception, our efforts have been met with apathy, hatred and intimidation from fellow students, along with indifference and resentment from faculty, staff and administration.
Witness the ceaseless trashing of Trek Park and, after its repair on this past Sunday, the fourth destruction of Domocracy Dome (of which Brian was the chief engineer). Actions that mimic those of a hate group are perpetrated, just as everyone pretends nothing is happening. Thats the parking lot level.
With the AMS council’s over-ruling of the student court last spring, and the GSS self censorship event of this past week it seems the power dynamics at this school are locked. Tomorrow I expect GSS council to go into camera and suppress the Witt/Crompton/Diogenes late masterpiece: The 08′-09′ GSS Handbook.
Fuck! Brian’s been gone for three months, I was really looking forward to seeing him this week.
Is BC ready for a student movement? Personally, I thought we were in the golden age of BC, thats one reason I came here three years ago. Yet, we seem to be fairing no better than the rest of Canada. If nothing else, the occurrence of the SDS last year helped crystalize structures of a number of groups with huge memberships along with a series of events, media sources and documents that give us an institutional memory for, apparently, the first time in this college’s history. Its like we have a chance to change… everything.
Now is a really good time for the student body, clubs, AMS and GSS councils to check the weather, see which way the wind is blowing, and actually come to the aid of UBC Students. The SDS is, after all, an AMS club.
A little help; Please.
Durgan
I’ll believe it when I see a link to a legitimate news source.
This just smacks of the same news story as the crazed protester girl last year, who the border patrol had every right to prevent from entering the country.
Lets not scream chicken little when we have no evidence for either side.
now do you believe me when one witness of the Knoll Aid 2.0 fiasco noted the two men dressed in black who observed everything silently?
they are CSIS, and report to the RCMP czar and to Ottawa regarding the “Red” threat on campus, when in actual fact, career criminals are the actual threat to national security, not student activists!!
this especially includes thugs who form in response to SDS activities.
yes, i am saying that IMO right_wing hate groups and the far right are a threat to national security since they help to criminalize social activism.
as well, citizen groups that are not left wing tend to condone and sometimes even rationalize (excuse) criminal activity.
jesse, nate crompton may be scrutinize by Scotland Yard and by the local Kent police.
as well, the chavs there will be called into action, and he may experience violence which appears random but is determined by his visibility i.e. what he says to a reporter at a political rally.
we must be vigilant in what we say to the newsmedia, considering that they will report it ad verbatim.
wow ed, do you sleep with a tinfoil hat?
Im honestly curious. If you honestly believe that CSIS is watching you, you need help.
I never said anything about CSIS, but they were definitely present at Knoll Aid 2.0 when the mass arrests happened. Unless there is another law enforcement entity that dresses in suits, wears sunglasses at night, and wears earpiece communication devices.
If you don’t think CSIS is interested in SDS you are really living in a fantasy world. This kind of naivete’ really should be dispelled by now.
It’s perfectly UNlikely that information about Knoll Aid 2.0 came from CSIS. It’s more likely to come from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), which keeps all info on a database and allows cops to access it through something as simple as a driver’s license number. It’s the program that traffic cops look at when pulling people over and taking their licenses.
Steve, I’m a little surprised that you would use a classist slur like `chav.` Words like that are used by the bourgeois in England to put down the working man and shouldn`t be used in intelligent debate.
hippies aren’t a threat to national security, dammit.
What is SDS? Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate?
SDS == Students for a Democratic Society
Student activism is a threat to the patriarchy. The authorities want compliant consumers without any neo-Left zeal.