In the last year theres been a number of incidents involving Canadians in Mexico..and thier government covers it up. Now its gotten to close to home...My Best friends cousin was airlifted to U of A hospital after being severly beaten this week in Cancun,at the same time a friend of theres is fighting probably a losing battle for his life.{the news story below} The Mexican government is totally covering up the true happenings.....Is this normal to you USA'ers????Do you see this happen with your citizens also?
Canadian in Mexican hospital to be airlifted home
Updated Wed. May. 9 2007 2:25 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A Canadian man on life support in a Mexican hospital could be airlifted home as early as Wednesday, his family said.
Mexican doctors have concluded that Jeff Toews, of Grande Prairie, Alta. is clinically brain dead.
"As of (Tuesday) night there is 100 per cent no life in Jeff's brain, so he's clinically brain dead," said Murray Toews, Jeff's brother, when reached by phone Wednesday in Cancun, Mexico.
"We want to pull him to Alberta so we can make some decisions with Jeff's organs," said Toews. "It's (the family's) decision that they want his organs donated so we need to keep him alive to get him out of the country."
It's unclear when Jeff Toews would return to Canada, but his brother hopes it will happen as early as today.
The Albertan was found grievously injured at the Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort in Cancun early Monday.
Mexican authorities say he sustained his injuries after falling from a balcony on the resort.
But his family maintains he was brutally beaten, and they accuse Mexican authorities of covering up the crime.
Meanwhile, the debate over whether Ottawa should issue an advisory against travel to the country has been reignited.
Ottawa has been "singularly ineffective" in dealing with cases of Canadians attacked in Mexico, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh said Wednesday, as he called on Ottawa to be more vocal in pressing Mexican authorities to investigate these cases more aggressively.
"I know (Foreign Affairs Minister Peter) MacKay raised these issues when he was in Mexico last, because I was there with him, but obviously this seems to have no effect," Dosanjh, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
Dosanjh criticized Foreign Affairs for not issuing a travel warning on the consular affairs website.
"I think we need to provide some travel advisories to our own people and make them conscious of the fact that these kinds of possibilities exist," he said.
Dosanjh said there are a number of cases -- several of them serious -- that have not been investigated.
"I know people would argue that we are responsible ourselves when we travel abroad and we should be a little cautious ourselves, but this has been happening in Mexico all too often."
Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo, attorney-general for the state of Quintana Roo, agrees with Mexican authorities that Toews fell from a balcony.
"He wasn't beaten. He fell from a second storey of the hotel where he was staying," he told the Canadian Press on Tuesday.
"That's the report that we have from the security guard from the hotel, and the report we're getting from the hospital too."
Carrillo has also overseen the controversial Ianiero case, the Canadian couple murdered at another Mexican resort.
He has blamed two women from Thunder Bay, Ont. for the killings, despite heavy criticism.
Dosanjh says Mexican officials need to be respected but maintains authorities need to be more vigilant in their investigations.
"They are a sovereign state so to that extent you have to respect them, but the difficulty that we have experienced with this attorney-general is that he comes to conclusions without much investigation," Dosanjh said.
"He has done that instantaneously in this case as well. That must cause a great deal of anguish for the family," he said.
Toews and his wife Natalie were vacationing in the region with nine other couples from northern Alberta, on a seven-day holiday.
His son, who turns three this week, is staying with family in Grande Prairie.
Before security guards found Toews on the golf course, he had been with the other couples at the resort's Andromeda nightclub.
He travelled back and forth between the club and his room, until he failed to return after one such trip.
With files from the Canadian Press
Canadian in Mexican hospital to be airlifted home
Updated Wed. May. 9 2007 2:25 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A Canadian man on life support in a Mexican hospital could be airlifted home as early as Wednesday, his family said.
Mexican doctors have concluded that Jeff Toews, of Grande Prairie, Alta. is clinically brain dead.
"As of (Tuesday) night there is 100 per cent no life in Jeff's brain, so he's clinically brain dead," said Murray Toews, Jeff's brother, when reached by phone Wednesday in Cancun, Mexico.
"We want to pull him to Alberta so we can make some decisions with Jeff's organs," said Toews. "It's (the family's) decision that they want his organs donated so we need to keep him alive to get him out of the country."
It's unclear when Jeff Toews would return to Canada, but his brother hopes it will happen as early as today.
The Albertan was found grievously injured at the Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort in Cancun early Monday.
Mexican authorities say he sustained his injuries after falling from a balcony on the resort.
But his family maintains he was brutally beaten, and they accuse Mexican authorities of covering up the crime.
Meanwhile, the debate over whether Ottawa should issue an advisory against travel to the country has been reignited.
Ottawa has been "singularly ineffective" in dealing with cases of Canadians attacked in Mexico, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh said Wednesday, as he called on Ottawa to be more vocal in pressing Mexican authorities to investigate these cases more aggressively.
"I know (Foreign Affairs Minister Peter) MacKay raised these issues when he was in Mexico last, because I was there with him, but obviously this seems to have no effect," Dosanjh, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
Dosanjh criticized Foreign Affairs for not issuing a travel warning on the consular affairs website.
"I think we need to provide some travel advisories to our own people and make them conscious of the fact that these kinds of possibilities exist," he said.
Dosanjh said there are a number of cases -- several of them serious -- that have not been investigated.
"I know people would argue that we are responsible ourselves when we travel abroad and we should be a little cautious ourselves, but this has been happening in Mexico all too often."
Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo, attorney-general for the state of Quintana Roo, agrees with Mexican authorities that Toews fell from a balcony.
"He wasn't beaten. He fell from a second storey of the hotel where he was staying," he told the Canadian Press on Tuesday.
"That's the report that we have from the security guard from the hotel, and the report we're getting from the hospital too."
Carrillo has also overseen the controversial Ianiero case, the Canadian couple murdered at another Mexican resort.
He has blamed two women from Thunder Bay, Ont. for the killings, despite heavy criticism.
Dosanjh says Mexican officials need to be respected but maintains authorities need to be more vigilant in their investigations.
"They are a sovereign state so to that extent you have to respect them, but the difficulty that we have experienced with this attorney-general is that he comes to conclusions without much investigation," Dosanjh said.
"He has done that instantaneously in this case as well. That must cause a great deal of anguish for the family," he said.
Toews and his wife Natalie were vacationing in the region with nine other couples from northern Alberta, on a seven-day holiday.
His son, who turns three this week, is staying with family in Grande Prairie.
Before security guards found Toews on the golf course, he had been with the other couples at the resort's Andromeda nightclub.
He travelled back and forth between the club and his room, until he failed to return after one such trip.
With files from the Canadian Press
