Canadian Tourist Murdered?

[Update, Monday February 4, 2008 ]

According to a report, Canadian tourist killed in mysterious circumstances [murdered?] on a cycling tour in New Zealand last week was a news magazine publisher and community leader in the mountain resort town of Whistler, Canada.

Kathryn Jane Barnett, 49, president, co-owner and publisher of Pique Newsmagazine, was fatally injured when a vehicle, traveling uphill, hit her from behind. Mrs Barnett was an experienced cyclist and was riding well to the left [legal side] of the road.

Initial Report

A Canadian tourist was killed in mysterious circumstances in New Zealand raising the number of incidents of murder, “accidental” death and violent rape in 2008 to over 100 on the day their imbecile police discovered the weighted-down body of another woman in a river.

Initial report at Stuff New Zealand

Links on other tourist murders and background:

Yet Another Victim of New Zealand Tourism (Scottish tourist murdered in New Zealand in the prime of her life)
You Want to Work in New Zealand?
Truth About ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ Advertising Campaign
Stop New Zealand Committing Eco-Terrorism!
Assault victim tells of terrifying ordeal
Increased violence in NZ: What are the tourists coming here for?

Tourist couple kidnapped at gunpoint, robbed, woman raped, husband assaulted .
Men guilty of kidnapping tourist
Skinheads jailed for beating tourist
Tourist abducted and robbed
Backpacker rapist sentenced to 7 years

Tourist abducted and robbed
German Tourist’s Murder was Preventable
English tourist’s campervan set on fire in the carpark
The two kidnappers who beat and raped the Dutch tourist only get 10 and 6 years
Father urges New Zealand pilot to face music over tourist’s death
Indian Student, 22, stabbed to death

Appalling race-hate crimes in New Zealand: Chinese student was battered with beer bottles

A 46-year-old Malaysian woman was raped in Auckland, NZ

South American tourists were beaten and robbed
One in six of Kiwis (New Zealanders) think about suicide [Murder]

33 percent More Disasters

Droughts, Floods, Hurricanes and Biofuel

More humanitarian disasters around the world are occurring as a result of extreme weather and rising food prices.

Devastation caused by droughts, floods and hurricanes prompted 14 out of 15 U.N. “flash appeals” for help last year, up 33% from the previous worst record, according to the U.N. Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes.

Disasters are increasing both in intensity and number, Holmes said. “Holmes cited  growing demand for food in China and India, a shift towards more meat-oriented diets and the use of foodstuffs in biofuels as driving what he called a structural change in food prices that put some staples beyond the reach of the poor.”  More…

Canada, Racism, Genocide, and the Bomb

Canadian Genocide Machine

Excerpts from Canada, Racism, Genocide, and the Bomb
by Kim Petersen

The uranium mine was developed by the Canadian government to satisfy US needs for the World War II effort to construct an atomic bomb. From 1942 to 1960, the Sahtugot’ine worked at the mine in Port Radium, unknowingly polluting their massive freshwater resource and irradiating themselves. In the early 1960s, the danger became apparent. The Sahtugot’ine workers started to die from lung, colon, and kidney cancers — diseases previously unknown to them.

Deline ["Where the water flows"] is practically a village of widows, most of the men who worked as laborers have died of some form of cancer. The widows, who are traditional women were left to raise their families with no breadwinners, supporters. They were left to depend on welfare and other young men for their traditional food source. This village of young men are the first generation of men in the history of Dene on this lake to grow up without guidance from their grandfathers, fathers and uncles. This cultural, economic, spiritual, emotional deprivation impact on the community is a threat to the survival of the one and only tribe on Great Bear Lake.

Full Story…

Tuna Sushi, and Hold the Mercury!

Oceana Report: Hold the Mercury

Oceana.org’s new report on mercury levels in popular fish and sushi, Hold the Mercury, includes the results of mercury tests on 94 fish samples obtained from sushi bars and grocery stores from cities across the country.

Below is a summary of their key findings concerning high mercury levels found in tuna and swordfish and their recommendations:

Key Findings

• Mercury levels in tuna were much higher than the FDA data suggest
• Two-thirds of swordfish tested contained mercury above the FDA “action level”, which would permit the administration to remove these fish from sale
• The FDA lacks data on bluefin tuna and other popular sushi tuna species
• Average mercury levels of swordfish exceeded the FDA “action level”

Recommendations

• Grocery companies should post the FDA advice about mercury in fish on signs at seafood counters
• The FDA should increase the frequency of its testing for commonly consumed fish
• The FDA should consider including fresh tuna on its “Do Not Eat” list
• The FDA should require warnings to be posted where fish covered by the U.S. government advisories are sold

Related links:
Fish, Antibiotics, Pesticides, Toxic Materials
Pregnant Women, Eat Fish! Don’t Eat Fish!
Sustainable Lifestyles & Healthy Food,
UPDATE & New Links
Fish Farming: The Hazards & Environmental Impacts 
The Aquaculture Dilemma

Cat Suicide Dance
The Poisoning of Minamata
Minamata Disaster
1 in 6 American women have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood
Still Ill
Mercury Rising: The Poisoning of Grassy Narrows
Mercury Exposure
Mercury poisoning: 1 in 6 babies are at risk of developmental problems

Yet Another Victim of New Zealand Tourism

Murdered in New Zealand in the Prime of Her Life

[Submitted by a guest writer]

Karen Aim, 26, a Scottish tourist, was found in a pool of blood, caused by a serious head injury, on a street corner in Taupo, New Zealand. She spoke with the responding officers and gave her name. It’s not known whether her life could have been saved had the authorities acted professionally. Karen’s body will be flown to Scotland and then by boat to her home in Orkney Islands.

Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Karen Aim. Their tragic loss was unnecessary and preventable. New Zealand is culture of extreme violence; NZ Government and the tourism mafia [industry] must be held accountable for each and every incidents of murder, rape, kidnap, assault and aggravated robbery perpetrated by their citizens against the unsuspecting tourists who are lured to the country by false advertising. [See links below.]

Karen Aim

CASF Human Rights Team has previously asked the NZ Ministry of Justice and several other ministries for a list of foreigners who have been murdered or ‘accidentally’ killed in New Zealand in the past few years. Unfortunately, the New Zealand authorities declined to provide any information.

According to nztourmaps.com, a New Zealand tourism promotion company, about 779 overseas visitors were killed in New Zealand between 2001 to 2006. [Note: the figure provided may be a gross underestimate, though it still means overseas visitors are 7 times more likely to be killed in New Zealand than in Australia.]

Related Links:

You Want to Work in New Zealand?
Truth About ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ Advertising Campaign
Stop New Zealand Committing Eco-Terrorism!
Assault victim tells of terrifying ordeal
Increased violence in NZ: What are the tourists coming here for?