What do Canadian Mennonite, the
Afghan Association of Ontario, the
Canadian Union of Postal Workers, First
Nations Child and Caring Society and the
Sierra Club Canada Foundation all have
in common? They are all organizations
on a list compiled by the coalition,
“Voices/Voix” that details, “more than
100 cases of individuals, organizations
and public service institutions that have
been muzzled, defunded, shut down
or subjected to vilification” by the
Conservative government of Canada.
They are also currently in the process of
documenting a dozen more cases. Given
the Harper Conservative government’s
recent imposition of Bill C-51, more
popularly known as the “Secret Police
Bill”, its clear that the coalition could be
very busy in the coming years if things
continue down the same path. It's also
clear that Bill C-51 is not just an isolated
and misguided law, but part of an overall
effort by the Conservative government to
criminalize opposition to its policies as it
continues to prioritize war, occupation,
austerity program and corporate profits at
the expense of healthcare, education and
the overall living standards of poor and
working people in Canada.
Bill C-51 – Opposition Continues
“An Open Letter from Artists Against
Bill C-51” , which was spearheaded by
prominent author Margaret Atwood
and signed by more than 200 well
known artists, summarizes Bill C-51
this way, “This bill was rammed through
Parliament by the Harper Conservative
government, despite a huge public outcry
and without due consultation. As many
experts have pointed out, this bill allows
the government to silence dissenting
voices without oversight or accountability.
It criminalizes ‘advocating or promoting
the commission of terrorism offences
in general,’ which, because of this vague
wording, could be interpreted in some
very stupid ways. In effect, it gives the
government carte blanche to suppress any
voice they don’t like.”
Every monthly issue of Fire This Time
since Bill C-51 was introduced on
January 30, 2015 has contained an article
detailing both the abuses and broader
implications of Bill C-51, as well as the
growing movement opposing it backed
by a consensus among virtually every
major legal, human rights and civil
liberties organization which looked at
the Bill. Eight months and over 15,000
words later and there has never been a
shortage of material!
Bill C-24 – Another Prong of the
Attack on Our Rights
The Conservative government has
continued to say it wont abuse the vast
new powers it has granted itself with Bill
C-51, but there is nothing to substantiate
this claim. They also passed Bill C-24
last year, which gave them the ability
to revoke the Canadian citizenship
of anyone convicted of terrorism who
has the possibility of dual citizenship.
They have wasted no time in starting
the process of revoking the citizenship
of 10 people. This includes Canadian-
born Saad Gaya, who they claim can be
deported to Pakistan despite not being
a citizen of that country - because his
parents emigrated from there more than
30 years ago!
Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, Canada’s
first Muslim mayor, made a simple
observation, “Either you believe in the
rule of law in this country, or you don’t.
One Canadian citizen committing the
same crime should be treated the same as
any other citizen, not subject to a different
sort of justice if they had a parent or
grandparent born someplace else.’’
BC Civil Liberties Association executive
director Josh Patterson also commented,
“There are now millions of Canadians whose
rights are worth less than others’, whose
rights can be taken away more easily than
others. The only distinction between them
and others is where their families came from.
That is the very definition of inequality. It
bakes discrimination into the law; it’s the very
opposite of people being equal before the law.”
The BCCLA and the Canadian Association
of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) are launching
a formal constitutional challenge of the law
on the grounds that it violates the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.
Separately, Bill C-51 and Bill C-24 are
dangerous enough, but together they blow
the door wide open to abuse. Think about it.
The Conservative government has just made
the definition of terrorism so vague and so
broad that basically anyone could be targeted
by it, and now millions more people face the
possibility of deportation if targeted in this
way!
Pattern of Abuse
The Voice/Voix coalition has been so effective
in documenting government abuses, that
it has now been accused of “supporting a
terrorist organization” by Stephen Blaney,
the same Minister of Public Safety, who
introduced Bill C-51. Spending time on their
website (www.voices-voix.ca) one gets a sense
of how consistent and ongoing the Canadian
governments efforts to dismantle freedom of
speech and construct walls of fear in Canada.
The categories of the website include the
tactics the government uses:
Charitable status attacked/revoked,
Defunding, Fired or forced resignation,
Harassment/Privacy violation, Information
Withholding, Interference
with independent
institutions, Surveillance,
Vilification/Smearing
As well as the general
categories of organizations
and individuals targeted:
Aboriginal peoples,
Academia, Environment,
Foreign Policy, Human
Rights, Immigrants and
Refugees, International
Development, Labour
movement, Military
and Veterans, National
security, Palestinian
Human Rights, Think tanks, Watchdogs,
Women, Youth.
The onslaught has been comprehensive!
In 2012, David Suzuki, well established scientist
and activist resigned from the organization
bearing his name after the government began
targeting non-profit organizations, especially
environmental organizations critical of new
resource extractions projects, for engaging in
“political activity”. They were all threatened
that their charitable status would be revoked.
The Conservatives also allocated an 8 million
dollar increase to supervision of charities.
Mr Suzuki released a statement at the time
which said, “I want to speak freely without
fear that my words will be deemed too
political, and harm the organization of which
I am so proud. I am keenly aware that some
governments, industries and special interest
groups are working hard to silence us...This
bullying demonstrates how important it is to
speak out.”
When someone as well known as David
Suzuki is forced to resign from his own
organization, you know things are getting
bad! Even worse is the fact that this doesn’t
seem to have stopped the targeting of the
foundation, which has now been audited 3
times at a cost of approximately $100,000 per
audit. “There’s been a huge chill across the
environmental sector because of the threat.
The cost of a single audit is huge, and for a lot
of organizations it’s almost crippling,” Suzuki
said in a recent interview.
The War at Home and Abroad are Always
Linked
There has been no major war, occupation or
threat since September 11, 2001 that Canada
has not participated in. Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya, Mali, Ukraine and Syria...the list keeps
growing. The occupation of Afghanistan cost
the lives of 158 soldiers and over 18 billion
dollars between 2001 and 2012. Now the
government is estimating that its military
exploits in Iraq and Syria will cost over half a
billion dollars by next year.
While the costs of war skyrocket, try this
experiment: Try and find even one teacher,
nurse, doctor, social worker - anyone on the
frontlines of providing healthcare, education
and social services in Canada – who would tell
you that they aren’t facing constant cutbacks.
Find even one who would say that they are
provided the resources they need to able to
provide the quality of work they are capable
of, and the quality of care required to build a
healthy, dignified and educated society. In fact,
try and find anyone in Canada who would tell
you that healthcare and education are better
now than 2001. They have been gutted!
Meanwhile, Canada is among the worst
countries in the developed world in terms of
the widening income gap between the super
rich and the rest of society, according to the
Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD). They also went
further, “The point of the whole commentary
is that it is not just about income [inequality]...
It is about income, yes, but it is about health,
education, job opportunities. It’s really about
inequalities, plural, ” said OECD Secretary-
General Angel Gurria.
Trying to Divert and Divide
With one hand the Conservative government
slashes social programs and attacks poor and
working people, and with the other points
in the other direction and distract us. They
constantly associate Muslims with terrorism
and impending threats against Canada. 3
people have died from terrorist attacks in
Canada in the last 20 years, and they sound
the red alarm and start referring to supposed
“jahadi terrorist tentacles” encircling the
country. They have recently proposed a
new hotline for people to call in and report
“Barbaric Cultural Practices” and defend
women and children, but purposely ignored
years of calls for an independent investigation
into over 1200 missing and murdered
indigenous women in Canada. A women is
killed on average every six days in Canada by
a current or former spouse or boyfriend, yet
the Conservative government closed 12 out
of 16 Status of Women Offices and mandated
that the organization could not fund the work
of organizations when it relates to advocacy,
lobbying or general research on women’s
rights issues. So who is really the threat to
women’s rights in Canada?
We are the Majority – Let’s Act Like It!
It’s important to take some time and get
past the hysteria and the headlines of the
Conservative government and get back to the
basics. Life is getting worse for the majority
of people living in Canada. This is not because
we are being attacked by Muslim extremists
and not because we deserve to be sick or
unemployed. It is getting worse because the
Harper Conservative government is taking
our tax dollars and pumping them into missile
purchases and tax breaks for the super wealthy,
while cutting everything else necessary
to maintain a healthy society. It is getting
worse because the Conservative government
does not represent the interests of the vast
majority of people living in Canada. They are
fully aware of this, but want to make sure we
remain divided and unable to organize to defend our rights and lives against their attacks. Bill
C-51, and every other anti-human measure taken to limit our rights before that, are meant to
create fear, division and weakness. The good news is that they wouldn’t be focusing so much on
taking away our rights if they weren’t afraid of what happens when we use them. We need to
continue to build on the impressive organizing against Bill C-51 so far, with the knowledge that
when we work together we can defend and extend the rights of all poor and working people.
We
are the majority, let’s act like it!
Over 200 Canadian Artists Sign Open
Letter Opposing Bill C-51
September 29, 2015
Dear Party Leaders,
We are Canadian artists. We have been blessed
to be part of a country that does not send poets
to gulags, that does not behead people for saying
things a government considers critical of it, and
that does not murder dissidents and journalists
wholesale.
But we know that totalitarian and repressive
regimes always try to shut down artists, along
with any other independent voices. We are alert
to the possibilities: we, and all who wish a free
and open society, must strongly oppose such
tendencies when they arise.
Bill C-51 directly attacks the creative arts and
free expression in this country.
This bill was rammed through Parliament by
the Harper Conservative government, despite a
huge public outcry and without due consultation.
As many experts have pointed out, this bill
allows the government to silence dissenting
voices without oversight or accountability. It
criminalizes “advocating or promoting the
commission of terrorism offences in general,”
which, because of this vague wording, could
be interpreted in some very stupid ways. In
effect, it gives the government carte blanche to
suppress any voice they don’t like.
Is it promoting terrorism if we:
•write a spy novel about an assassination plot?
•record a song questioning our government’s
agenda?
•paint a mural about the conflict in Syria?>
•produce a documentary on security threats in
Canada?
•put on an art show critical of the oil sands?
•make a film with an environmental theme?
Creativity, expression, opinion, and art are
not the same as terrorist propaganda. Through
its “chill” effect, C-51 undermines one of the
chief freedoms of a democratic society: the
right of every Canadian to free speech and free
expression, including free artistic expression.
In addition, Bill C-51, because of the lack of
oversight and accountability, is an invitation to
intellectual property theft. All creative classes,
including entrepreneurs and digital creators, are
threatened by it. And every citizen is subject
to blackmail, due to unlimited, unaccountable
access to personal information.
We agree with the almost 300,000 Canadians
who have called on the government to scrap this
reckless, dangerous and ineffective legislation
through the petition at http://KillC51.ca.
This election we will be voting to protect our
artistry, our rights, and our freedoms: we will
be voting for the repeal of C-51. We hope you
will join us in ensuring that all Canadians are no
longer subject to the chilling effects of C-51 and
targeted by government censorship.
We can defend against terrorists in much better
ways than this.
Signed,
Margaret Atwood, Author and more than 200
artists in Canada.
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