A Montreal lawyer is bringing the federal and provincial governments to court this week. He is seeking an injunction to block the 3.8 kilometer fence that is being built around Quebec City in preparation for the FTAA summit this month

.

Marc Tremblay, who normally specializes in bankruptcy cases, is basing his case on the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He contends that the erection of the four-meter fence, intended to keep protesters out of the city, violates citizens' right of assembly and the presumption of innocence.
Tremblay said he is not part of any anti-FTAA group. "I wanted to go protest, as an individual, but they said no," Tremblay explained. After he was refused both a permit to demonstrate during the summit and a pass granting him access to the security perimeter, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

The case will be tried in a Quebec City court April 9 and 10. "I definitely think I will win," Tremblay said. But winning may not be so easy. Testimony from American police officials in Seattle and Washington, D.C., as well as the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service, will be presented at the trial by the federal and provincial defence lawyers. These testimonies will recount the violence and damage done in the recent past by protesters in similar demonstrations.

These testimonies could prove to be effective in over-riding Tremblay's contentions of violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Although governments are under obligation to follow the Charter, special circumstances can allow them to suspend rights for a designated time. Testimonies from police officials who were at the Seattle WTO demonstration in Nov. 1999, will go over the violence and the estimated damage of $3 million U.S. done by protesters.

Results of the trial will only be available on April 17, according to Tremblay. If he wins, this would only give organizers three days to take down the massive fence.