During November Mr. Martin worked with Paul Gully Hart of Schellenber Wittmer of Geneva to obtain immunity and safe passage assurances from the government of Switzerland so as to permit Napoleon Gomez Urrutia to safely travel from Canada to Geneva to take up his responsibilities as a member of the Executive Committee of IndustriALL, the global industrial union, notwithstanding long standing meritless  politically motivated criminal charges that remain outstanding in Mexico. View Switzerland’s assurances here as well as a report and interview here.

During November Mr. Martin also worked to complete the successful settlement of a major civil claim for damages against the Government of Canada arising from the wrongful investigation and prosecution of criminal charges against a BC based electronics manufacturer. In this case, search warrants were executed upon the home and business premises of the manufacturer in Feb 2009  and criminal charges were laid against he and his daughter under the Export and Import Control Act in April 2010. Mr. Martin was retained in June 2010 and , following submissions that the case could not be proved and was wholly without merit , the Crown abandoned the criminal charges in Aug 2011. Mr. Martin then filed a civil suit in Nov 2011 (the full text of which can be viewed here) claiming damages for defamation and economic loss.  Following lengthy negotiations and a Judicial Mediation Conference conducted before a Designated National Security Judge of the Federal Court of Canada the case was settled on acceptable terms on Nov 22, 2013.

In a lead editorial on October 26th, 2013, Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, described the BCCLA’s lawsuit attacking the constitutionality of the legislation underpinning Canada’s CSE, the Canadian equivalent of the USA’s NSA, as a welcome opportunity in “prying open a few of the mysteries of CSEC and putting firmer limits on it’s ability to infringe on your privacy”. The full editorial can be read here.

Martin + Associates has agreed to act for the BC Civil Liberties Association, along with Joe Arvay Q.C., to launch a constitutional challenge to the provisions of the National Defence Act that purports to authorise the Communication Security Establishment Canada (CSEC – the Canadian equivalent of the US NSA) to engage in the interception of private communications and the gathering of so-called “metadata” without prior judicial approval (the warrant requirement). Mr. Martin’s explanation as to why the warrant requirement should be imposed can be viewed here.

M+A is pleased to announce that in June 2013 Casey Leggett was appointed a Co-Editor of the Charter of Rights Newsletter, Canada’s primary “Charter trends” bulletin published by Canada Law Book, a Thompson Reuters company.

Mr. Martin and his associate Casey Leggett prepared an article on the issues and developments of foreign corrupt practices for publication in the May, 2013 edition of the International Bar Association’s White Collar Crime Newsletter. The full article can be viewed here.

 

Following on from the Interpol decision to vacate the “Red Notice” against Mr. Gomez M+A was instructed to commence a civil suit for damages against those individuals and corporations who had falsely alleged that Mr. Gomez had committed crimes. The April 17th, 2013 Notice of Civil Claim can be viewed here.

During a long campaign from 2006-2012 ‎Martin + Associates convinced Canada to refuse to accept multiple requests from Mexico to commence extradition proceedings against the leader of the Mexican Miners Union, Napoleon Gomez Urrita. Continuing, M+A was able to convince Interpol to cancel it’s “Red Notice” calling for Mr. Gomez’s international arrest. The details of the campaign, including a copy of Interpol’s letter dated March 29, 2013 cancelling the Gomez Red Notice, can be viewed here.

This paper was originally delivered by Mr. Martin at the 25th International Conference of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law held in Washington, DC October 22-26, 2012 and will soon be republished in the March, 2013 International Bar Association North American Regional Forum Newsletter. The full article can be read here.

 

Mr. Martin acted for Mr. David Radler , one of the principals of the so-called “Hollinger affair”, to negotiate and ‎implement what was described by the financial media as an “easy peace” with the Ontario Securities Commission. The description of the settlement by the Globe and Mail may be viewed here.