Canada is Complicit in Capital Punishment!

GAS MASKS made by Canadian-owned firm to be used in U.S. prisoner execution.

Justice advocacy groups say masks made by the subsidiary of a Quebec-based company are being used for executions in the United States.

 They say the equipment is made by Allegro Industries, a subsidiary of Quebec-based Walter Surface Technologies, which in turn is partly owned by Toronto private equity firm Onex Corp.

"I’m not ready, brother’: US man to be put to death months after botched execution attempt!"

U.S.-based non-profits Worth Rises and the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice say Alabama plans to execute inmate Kenneth Smith on Thursday by nitrogen hypoxia with a mask and hose typically used as a respirator.

‘Alabama appears to be preparing to premiere a new kind of execution by lethal gas. In the gas chambers of old, little cells were filled with poison that eventually destroyed the organs of the trapped prisoners, resulting in death.

Now, Alabama proposes to use nitrogen gas to replace enough oxygen to kill via hypoxia, an untested method once imagined in a National Review article and made manifest in a plastic gas mask.

The American Veterinary Medical Association wrote in 2020 euthanasia guidelines that nitrogen hypoxia is not an acceptable euthanasia method for most mammals because the anoxic environment “is distressing.” And experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council cautioned they believe the execution method could violate the prohibition on torture.

Dr. Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist who as one of four professionals who filed the U.N. complaint that led to the warning, said Smith is at risk for seizures and choking to death on his own vomit. He said any leak under the mask could prolong the execution.

Correctional authorities have found it increasingly difficult to obtain the chemicals needed for lethal injection due to pharmaceutical companies banning the use of their products for that purpose, prompting several states including Oklahoma and Mississippi to authorize nitrogen gas as a way to execute inmates on death row — though Thursday would be the first instance.

Add your voice to DEMAND Canada stop producing execution equipment and contributing to the torturous and inhumane execution of a human being. 

References:

https://medium.com/@alli.sullivann/humanity-in-the-midst-of-horror-cb3426767208​ 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alabama-execution-nitrogen-kenneth-smith-updates-b2485208.html​ 

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/21/kenneth-smith-alabama-execution-nitrogen-gas​

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/alabama-botched-executions-2022-gas/672607/​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/alabama-nitrogen-hypoxia-execution-1.7091845​

https://globalnews.ca/news/10244543/alabama-execution-nitrogen-gas/​

https://www.cp24.com/news/masks-made-by-canadian-owned-firm-to-be-used-in-u-s-prisoner-execution-groups-say-1.6739663#:~:text=U.S.%2Dbased%20non%2Dprofits%20Worth,typically%20used%20as%20a%20respirator.