NDP member's motion calls for Peltier's return to Canada

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The case of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian who was extradited from Canada to the United States in 1976 will be debated in the Canadian House of Commons sometime in April.

Jim Fulton, NDP member of Parliament for the Skeena riding in B.C. will introduce a private member's motion in the Canadian Parliament, which calls for a return of Peltier to Canadian soil.

Fulton questions the way evidence was withheld by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), in the extradition hearing of Peltier, who was facing murder charges in the United States at that time.

Efforts to gain a new trial for Peltier by his support group, the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC), based in Kansas, have been exhausted. It is hoped by Peltier supporters that Canadian action will result in a new extradition hearing and may eventually increase pressure on the American justice system to grant Peltier a new trial.

Fulton supports the return of Peltier to Canada because there are indications that false evidence was used and also evidence was withheld in Peltier's extradition hearing in December, 1976, explained Jim McPhee, an assistant to Fulton.

"This could jeopardize all extradition hearings, if one side plays by different rules," said McPhee.

Motion 28, Fulton's motion, will receive one hours debate but is not subject to a vote, said McPhee.

However, McPhee added that "if the politicians agree that they are not going to talk the motion out in an hour, then the speaker (of the House of Commons) can call a vote on the motion."

One of the interesting things about the true story of Peltier is the fact, that in the written opinion of the judges of the 8th Curcuit Court of Appeal in denying Peltier a new trial, in September 11, 1986, they stated that "there had been fabrication of evidence, withholding of evidence, coercion of witnesses, as well as improper conduct by the FBI" in Peltier's original trial.

Peltier was originally convicted of the murder of two FBI agents in 1975, at the Pine Ridge reservation, in South Dakota.

One of the prosecution witnesses, Myrtle Poorbear, who had claimed she was Peltier's girlfriend, recanted the two versions of her testimony to the trial. The withdrawal of Poorbear's evidence was not revealed at Peltier's Canadian extradition hearing, said McPhee.

Peltier's case is of national importance to Canada and of international concern, said Mary Jane Wilson, member of the LPDC.

"Leonard is back at the beginning of the circle, he will have to go back and start again at the Canadian extradition hearing. With the people's support, we can get this debate through the Canadian door, and later get a fair hearing and trial for Leonard," said Wilson. She added that the only legal option left for Peltier, is to obtain a legal review of the case by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Peltier spent about a year in Canada, before he was arrested in Smallboys Camp near Hinton, Alberta, in February 1976. He had been held in the Okalla prison, in B.C. before he was extradited to the U.S., in December, 1976.

Peltier is at present in custody at the Leavenworth prison, in Kansas, USA.