“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable
network of mutuality, tied in a single garment
of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects
all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live
with the narrow, provincial 'outside agitator'
idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States
can never be considered an outsider anywhere
within its bounds.”
Martin Luther King Jr, April 16, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr, the great black
fighter for civil rights, wrote these words
from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama.
His crime? Protesting against segregation
after a judge had outlawed all, “parading,
demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and
picketing” in response to a campaign against
desegregation in the city. Being thrown
in jail for speaking out against racism and
for equal rights might be something most
people in Canada consider impossible today,
but by promoting a climate of fear and
racism, and then using this as the pretext
for new laws and legislation, the Canadian
conservative government is moving towards
just that.
The newest attempt is though Bill C-51,
which has already been submitted to
Parliament. Titled the, “Investigative
Powers for the 21st Century Act”, the
bill gives hugely expanded powers to the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
(CSIS) and other government agencies,
including lowering the threshold of proof
for arrest, new allowances for knowingly
violating legal rights, increased secrecy of
court proceedings and expanding arbitrary
“no fly lists.”
To accept the government narrative that
this is only to combat the “violent jihadism”
which is “at war” with Canada would be
a huge mistake. This has been targeted
against us too and will affect us all.
Nothing New
“I find it a little convenient that in the past
few years that these radicalized people are
the biggest threat to ever hit us. There are
more people dying because of drunk drivers
or because of gang violence.” - Former
CSIS officer Francois Lavigne
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001
the Canadian government has waged an
increasing war both at home and abroad.
They have consciously tried to promote
both racism and Islamophobia, which they
use to justify their continued squandering of
lives and money during their participation
in wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya
and Mali. It has also served as a convenient
justification for rolling back hard won civil
liberties here in Canada, starting with the
targeting of Muslim communities.
To document all of the instances of abuse
would take an entire article, actually an
entire series of books, but it is useful to look
at some examples:
- The use of “Security Certificates” to
indefinitely detain non-citizen residents
of Canada without charge, using secret
evidence and a quasi-judicial process. Since
9-11, five Muslim men have been arrested
and detained for years without charges and
proper judicial process. Adil Charkaoui,
Hassan Almrei, Mahmoud Jaballah,
Mohamed Harkat and Mohammad Zeki
Mahjou have decades of imprisonment and
harassment inflicted between them, but
not one of them has been convicted of any
crime.
- In August of 2014, 23 men were arrested
in Toronto. The RCMP carried out these
and several other raids in conjunction
with the Department of Citizenship
and Immigration Canada (CIC). It was
announced that they had uncovered an
Al Qaeda “sleeper cell.” All 24 men were
Muslim, 23 were from Pakistan, and they
had all at one time attended the same
business school. All allegations of terrorism
against the detainees were dropped within
two weeks of the arrests, yet the detainees
spent two to five months in a maximum
security prison outside Toronto. Some of the
evidence used to justify and hype the arrests
included an “airplane schematic” found on
the wall of one of their apartments, which
was actually a poster of an airplane given to
one of the arrested by his father, a baggage
handler!
- The BC Civil Liberties Association is
currently suing the Canadian government
for allowing the Communications Security
Establishment Canada (CSEC) to “read
Canadians’ emails and text messages, and
listen to Canadians’ phone calls, whenever a
Canadian is communicating with a person
outside Canada. CSEC also operates under
a secret ministerial directive that allows
it to collect and analyze the metadata
information that is automatically produced
each and every time a Canadian uses a
mobile phone or accesses the internet.
There is no court or committee that
monitors the CSEC’s interception of these
private communications and metadata
information, and there is no judicial
oversight of its sweeping powers. CSEC’s
operations are shrouded in secrecy.”
- In 2012, the government also shut
down the office of the CSIS inspector
general, which provided active oversight
over the agency. Since then, after-the-fact
review is provided by a part-time Security
Intelligence Review Committee.
Trying to Push the Campaign Further
So Bill C-51 is part of an ongoing effort.
In this case the government is going so
far, even its usual major media allies are
concerned.
The Canadian Press noted, “The bill would
give government agencies such as the CSIS
vast new powers. But it would provide no
new independent oversight.”
A Globe and Mail Editorial asks, “Why
does the bill do so much more than fight
terrorism? One part of Bill C-51 creates
a new definition of an ‘activity that
undermines the sovereignty, security or
territorial integrity of Canada’ that includes
‘terrorism,’ ‘interference with critical
infrastructure’ and ‘interference with the
capability of the Government in relation
to ... the economic or financial stability of
Canada.’”
Even the conservative newspaper National
Post published a highly critical editorial
saying, “But Canadians have been given
precious little information on which to
decide whether the threat justifies the
measures contained in Bill C-51. This
is especially true in the case of C-51’s
prohibitions on ‘advocating’ and ‘promoting’
terrorism — terms that, worryingly, are not
defined in the bill.”
Unfortunately the Conservative Party
promoted Bill has received little opposition
in Parliament. The Liberal Party has
criticized the lack of oversight, but said it
will support the Bill. The New Democratic
Party (NDP), despite all the bill being an
obvious attack on poor and working people,
has not even announced its official position
yet! How is it that the National Post has
a more progressive position on Bill C-51
than the Canada’s “progressive” political
party the NDP?
The Narrative Unravels
“As you are aware, Madame Chancellor,
one of the jihadist monster’s tentacles
reached as far as our own Parliament.” -
Prime Minister Stephen Harper talking
to German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
February 9, 2015
Jihadist monster tentacles! It sounds
laughable, but the consequences are not.
The Canadian government is attacking
Muslims, immigrants and refugees, and
also creating more space to criminalize
dissenting views. There is another important
element as well: the effort to create divisions
between white “Canadian” workers and
non-white, immigrant and refugee workers
in an overall effort to drive down wages.
Non-white people living in Canada have
grown from less than 5% of the population
in 1980, to 16.2% in 2006, and it is
estimated the number will be 32% by 2030.
According to the Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives (CCPA), these workers
make less than 82 cents for every dollar a
white worker makes. Non-white women
make only 55.6 cents for every dollar made
by white male workers.
Also, as we have previously reported in Fire
This Time, the Canadian government also
changed the Temporary Foreign Worker
Act to allow employers to pay higher skilled
migrant workers 15% less than prevailing
wage rates, and employers are also able to
accelerate application for temporary foreign
workers, reducing the time from 12-14
weeks to 10 days. There are now more than
300,000 Temporary Foreign Workers in
Canada, triple the number from a decade
ago.
This is used to try and create a climate of
racism and division which is beneficial
to the Canadian government and their
business friends as they work to push down
wages for everyone, especially higher paid
workers, to maximize profits and survive
the current global economic crisis.
Stop the War at Home and Abroad!
“Together, we will remain vigilant against
those at home or abroad who wish to harm us.”
- Stephen Harper, October 22, 2014
These were part of Stephen Harper’s
statement following the terrorist attack
on Parliament Hill in Ottawa which left
one man dead. The Canadian government
instantly went on the offensive with one
result being the introduction of Bill C-51.
However, one can both condemn the
Ottawa attack, and also the policies of the
government of Canada, which have led to
tens of thousands of deaths in Afghanistan
and beyond, as well as painting a bleak
picture for life at home as well. What
“together” is the Prime Minister referring
to when he has so blatantly attacked
poor and working people in Canada and
around the world? Bill C-51 has nothing
to do with “fighting terrorism” or “jihadist
monster tentacles” and everything to do
with limiting our rights, silencing dissent
and creating divisions. The real “together”
is unity between all poor and working
people regardless of race, sex, or religion,
and it is crucial to defending our lives and
livelihoods, at home and abroad, against the
attacks of the Canadian government.
Scrap Bill C-51!
Stop Attacks on Poor and Working
People at Home and Abroad!
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