'We hope the message is still alive and well'
Jim Chatenay, as told to Robert Remington
National Post
Thursday, November 14, 2002
CREDIT: Scott Van Seggelen, Calgary Herald
Farmer Jim Chatenay of Penhold, Alta., has no second thoughts about going to jail to protest the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly.
Jim Chatenay is one of four Alberta farmers who remain in jail to protest the Canadian Wheat Board's 60-year monopoly over western grain growers. Mr. Chatenay, a wheat board director, was one of 13 farmers who went to jail after refusing to pay Canada Customs fines for taking wheat across the U.S. border. Mr. Chatenay donated a sack of grain to a 4-H Club in Montana and has been lobbying for the right of western growers to market their own wheat and barley. This is the second instalment of his prison diary.
- - -
You wouldn't believe the paperwork to get a phone call out of here.
They moved us from unit three, the maximum security wing, to unit five. There are about 36 cells and an upstairs balcony where the guards can look down on us. I like where we're at. The farmers are all side by side.
We're doing just fine. Nothing has changed. The inmates think we're great. Their freedom has been taken away and we're fighting for freedom, so I think they can understand that. Actually we're quite popular in here. There are lots of high fives all around.
Respect comes very clearly here. It's very hard to get respect in the [Canadian Wheat Board) board room but here the support is unbelievable.
There's a board meeting shortly after I get out and I plan to be there. I'm not exactly sure of the date because they send out the notices by e-mail. My wife doesn't run the computer and I don't have access to one in here. You know, in the last wheat board elections, 52% of farmers voted for choice (to market their own grain) and they have the right to be represented at the board table. Why should we as a board fail to represent these people?
In here, the days are pretty long, especially on the weekend, when we're locked up until 9:30 in the morning and you get two meals a day instead of three -- a brunch at 10:30 and dinner at 4:30. It's a long day because there are lockups to verify the inmate count and such. I'd rather be outside, that's for sure. Did I tell you there are 11 doors we have to go through before we even get a breath of fresh air?
You can do things like rake leaves and put them in bags. It's exercise and fresh air on a nice warm morning. The crew I was on sorted potatoes. You have to knock the wet clay off them and some were rotten, so they had to be sorted out. They try to keep us busy about two to four hours a day. It's kind of nice to go outside a bit. Did I tell you I was ploughing the other day? I ran a four-bottom plough, which was really neat.
Other than that, I do a lot of thinking at night: No.1, that we shouldn't be here and, No. 2, that if this is happening to us we hope the message is still alive and well out there. We are very determined to serve our full sentences because by paying one red cent we give them the satisfaction that they won. When you are wrongfully charged and convicted and sentenced you have no choice other than to go to jail because we don't agree with what they've done.
I want to make sure everyone knows we don't begrudge any of the farmers who left jail early (their fines paid in part by a relief fund). Our whole campaign has been about choice and they are not any less committed because they left early. If we had a monopoly, they would be severely reprimanded and I know what that's like. Thank God, we have a choice. They came to jail and did their best and are as well liked as anyone else still in here.
bremington@nationalpost.com
© Copyright 2002 National Post
Jim Chatenay, as told to Robert Remington
National Post
Thursday, November 14, 2002
CREDIT: Scott Van Seggelen, Calgary Herald
Farmer Jim Chatenay of Penhold, Alta., has no second thoughts about going to jail to protest the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly.
Jim Chatenay is one of four Alberta farmers who remain in jail to protest the Canadian Wheat Board's 60-year monopoly over western grain growers. Mr. Chatenay, a wheat board director, was one of 13 farmers who went to jail after refusing to pay Canada Customs fines for taking wheat across the U.S. border. Mr. Chatenay donated a sack of grain to a 4-H Club in Montana and has been lobbying for the right of western growers to market their own wheat and barley. This is the second instalment of his prison diary.
- - -
You wouldn't believe the paperwork to get a phone call out of here.
They moved us from unit three, the maximum security wing, to unit five. There are about 36 cells and an upstairs balcony where the guards can look down on us. I like where we're at. The farmers are all side by side.
We're doing just fine. Nothing has changed. The inmates think we're great. Their freedom has been taken away and we're fighting for freedom, so I think they can understand that. Actually we're quite popular in here. There are lots of high fives all around.
Respect comes very clearly here. It's very hard to get respect in the [Canadian Wheat Board) board room but here the support is unbelievable.
There's a board meeting shortly after I get out and I plan to be there. I'm not exactly sure of the date because they send out the notices by e-mail. My wife doesn't run the computer and I don't have access to one in here. You know, in the last wheat board elections, 52% of farmers voted for choice (to market their own grain) and they have the right to be represented at the board table. Why should we as a board fail to represent these people?
In here, the days are pretty long, especially on the weekend, when we're locked up until 9:30 in the morning and you get two meals a day instead of three -- a brunch at 10:30 and dinner at 4:30. It's a long day because there are lockups to verify the inmate count and such. I'd rather be outside, that's for sure. Did I tell you there are 11 doors we have to go through before we even get a breath of fresh air?
You can do things like rake leaves and put them in bags. It's exercise and fresh air on a nice warm morning. The crew I was on sorted potatoes. You have to knock the wet clay off them and some were rotten, so they had to be sorted out. They try to keep us busy about two to four hours a day. It's kind of nice to go outside a bit. Did I tell you I was ploughing the other day? I ran a four-bottom plough, which was really neat.
Other than that, I do a lot of thinking at night: No.1, that we shouldn't be here and, No. 2, that if this is happening to us we hope the message is still alive and well out there. We are very determined to serve our full sentences because by paying one red cent we give them the satisfaction that they won. When you are wrongfully charged and convicted and sentenced you have no choice other than to go to jail because we don't agree with what they've done.
I want to make sure everyone knows we don't begrudge any of the farmers who left jail early (their fines paid in part by a relief fund). Our whole campaign has been about choice and they are not any less committed because they left early. If we had a monopoly, they would be severely reprimanded and I know what that's like. Thank God, we have a choice. They came to jail and did their best and are as well liked as anyone else still in here.
bremington@nationalpost.com
© Copyright 2002 National Post
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