Myriam Bedard Remains in US Jail

Canadian Olympian Myriam Bedard is resting in a Maryland jail cell as she awaits the Canadian authorities to deliver her back to Canada. I've followed this story, and it disappoints me. I obviously do not know all of the details, but from what I have read over the last few weeks, I feel it is an issue that has been blown out of proportion.

Canadian Olympian Myriam Bedard must remain in a Maryland jail until Quebec police can bring her back to Canada, a judge ruled Wednesday.

"She's in jail awaiting a transfer by police from Quebec City, and there is some suggestion the RCMP may also be involved in this transfer," CTV's Tom Walters reported Wednesday afternoon.

"They have undertaken to do it within the next 36 hours, but in the meantime the court is not going to release her from custody."

Walters added that if Bedard is not transferred by Friday at the latest, the judge hinted he may consider granting her bail.

Bedard was arrested Dec. 22 on an international warrant and spent both Christmas and New Year's Eve in custody.

Link to Article

In our society there are criminals, then there are non-criminals. From time to time, non-criminals are guilty of breaking the law. This is one of them cases. I do not consider Bedard to be a hardened criminal. I remember her as an Olympic athlete who did her country proud. Her reputation as an athlete obviously carries no merit. But the fact her daughter is currently on a hunger strike, since being separated from her mother, speaks volumes to the state of their relationship.

I always withhold the right to change my mind on any story, but I can't help but feel this was nothing more than a mother's love for her daughter overcoming her common sense.

Do any of our Canadian members have any insight to this ongoing story?

This is a tough case.

Myriam says that everybody knew exactly where she went and where they were at all times - and that means it's not kidnapping. The father was worried that they were going to move to Iran so her husband could avoid facing the theft charges they have against him in Quebec and he would never see his daughter again.

Whether they would have actually gone to Iran, nobody but Myriam and her husband will ever know.

It does seem a little heavy-handed, but it would have been worse if this man would have never seen his daughter again.

Of course, there is always the speculation that Myriam is being punished for her part in exposing the sponsorship scandal. Myriam feels she is the subject of a conspiracy to get her back for it and claims to have been seeking the aid of US politicians while in the US.


[edit on 4-1-2007 by Duzey]

You have opened doors on this issue that I had not even realized existed. I thank you for it.

I can not get the image of her poor daughter out of my mind. The thought of a young girl broken up over the fact that her mother is locked up has to be tearing her apart. Children do hunger strikes, they hold their breath, none of it is going to accomplish anything. But normally when a child behaves in this manner, it is as of the result of someone else's actions.

I can only imagine that her daughter must feel she is solely to blame for this. Even though it has no legal merit, it is unfortunate to think of such a young girl having to go through such an ordeal.

I hope this is an issue that can be resolved with some extrajudicial measures.

I would hate to see Bedard do any serious prison time.


[edit on 4-1-2007 by chissler]

The biggest loser in any divorce is always the child.

Now that Bedard is back in Canada, I hope that she will be allowed to see her daughter, even if it is supervised visits.

This is very much a he said-she said case, and I would be very surprised if Bedard does any time for this at all. If it is true that she did not violate the custody agreement, then her husband or someone needs to be held responsible for this.

As a side note, Bedard's current husband came to Canada as a political refugee because he had been threatened with death by Khomeini. I doubt very much that Iran is the place he would choose to live with his family.

Good article in The Star:

Bedard, who contends she was forced from her job at Via Rail because of questions she raised about inflated payments to Quebec ad firms, made no secret of her campaign to complain in the U.S. about her treatment and that of Mazhari, who faces accusations he stole 20 paintings by Montreal artist Ghitta Caiserman.

They claim that “bureaucratic terrorism” is deeply rooted in the Quebec and Canadian media, police and the justice system.

She alerted the president of the International Olympic Committee, UN secretary general Kofi Annan and David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, to the fact that she and Mazhari were making the trip.

But Paquet complained to Canadian authorities because he feared Bedard and Mazhari would flee with the girl to Iran from the United States to escape his legal woes, said McCants.

Canada submitted an urgent request to the U.S. for Bedard’s arrest and extradition on Dec. 5.

www.thestar.com...

From the sponsorship scandal:

Former Via Rail employee Myriam Bédard gave startling testimony before a parliamentary committee looking into the scandal:

-That Canadian racecar driver Jacques Villeneuve was secretly paid $12 million from the sponsorship fund to wear a Canadian logo.

-That her domestic partner Nima Mazhari persuaded then-prime minister Jean Chrétien not to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

-That then-Via president Marc LeFrançois told her Groupaction was involved in drug trafficking.

In February 2004, she said she had been fired from a marketing job at Via after questioning the expense of Groupaction contracts.

www.cbc.ca...

I am skeptical of the claim that Mazhari was instrumental in keeping us out of Iraq, but the rest of her claims seem plausible. We know that there was a lot of money that went missing and some very powerful people who were determined to keep their cash-cow going.

Bedard had a part in bringing down the former government and I'm sure that made her some pretty big enemies.

I think what she says about her life being made miserable after asking questions about the missing money is very plausable.

She says she was forced to leave her job at via rail after this, they say she left of her own free will, but she says no. I fully believe her.

She opened a resturant after this and it closed within 6 months. I don't know if that had anything to do with her or with other factors. I know people can be vendictive when they wish to be.

After this she then had her husband accused of stealing the paintings and they are trying to clear his name.

They felt they were being prosecuted for her role in the sponsorship scandel and advised several people that they were going to the US to see help with this. So a variety of people including Olympic officials were aware. I am not sure why her husband was not, or says he was not made aware, because the trip took about 3 months to plan from what I have read.

I think her daughter Maude is a true champion, I think her mom has raised her well, and the love for her mom shows.

I hope Myriam can get support and people can remember how proud she once made the country. I think she could well be getting payback for being a whistle-blower, it happens all the time, but then it's the publics responsibility to help the whistle-blowers of this world.

I hope she does not see jail time, but the headlines seem to have made her seem like some runaway criminal, instead of someone trying to get help for what she feels is prosecution caused by her whistle-blowing.

Myriam's side of the story really isn't getting much play at all in the news, and I think it is an important part of the story. I agree that it is entirely possible that she is paying the price for whistle-blowing.

Most people that kidnap their kids do not call Kofi Annan at the UN to advise him of their travel plans in advance. They hide.

I wanted to update this thread:

Olympic champion Myriam Bedard is ecstatic to have her daughter with her again now that she and her ex-husband have reached an agreement that gives her custody.

"I'm very happy and I'm very -- how I could say? -- relaxed," Bedard told Canada AM Monday. "Now that she's there with me, I can take care of her."

Bedard pleased to have full custody of daughter

I'm very happy to hear that she has regained custody. She still has to go to court, but at least the little girl has her mother back.

I have no idea how the daughter feels about this whole mess, but if my father had my mother put in jail I'd have a very hard time forgiving him.

Forgive me if the answer is clear, but is Mrs. Bedard still facing charges if she now has full custody of her child? I hardly see the necessity in processing a case where the charges consist of kidnapping, when the accused has sole custody over the child. Now I understand that at the time of the event she did not have full custody, but human decency has to kick in at some point.

Seems to me that a good person, and a great mother, was dragged through the mud by a twisted husband and a headline hungry media.

Myriam still has to go to court to face charges. :shk:

I'm hoping that the judge will have some sense and throw the case out. There are a lot of better uses for the court time this is going to waste.

Originally posted by Duzey
I'm hoping that the judge will have some sense and throw the case out. There are a lot of better uses for the court time this is going to waste.

Agreed.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. If there is some "conspiracy" angle on this case, considering her past, maybe her day in court will do plenty to reinforce that. Our own little "Canadian Conspiracy"?