“Our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that
matter.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
On June 18, 2015 the widely
controversial and even more widely
hated Bill C-51 officially became a law
in Canada.
Bill C-51 became a law even
though it was clear to everyone that the
majority of people in Canada, as well
as a broad front of major legal, human
rights, civil liberties, labour and media
organizations, opposed the Bill.
They opposed it for the obvious reason
that it is a massive and unnecessary
attack on our democratic rights, human
rights and civil liberties. People in
Canada have become all too familiar
with the government ramming new laws
down our throats, but Bill C-51 became
the last straw for many, and grassroots
organizations and coalitions grew all over
Canada. Now that the Bill is passed it
is more important than ever that we
continue to organize against it, to show
to the government that Bill C-51 will
not be successful in its main objective of
silencing our voices or stopping us from
coming together to defend our rights.
Our demand must now be, “Repeal Bill
C-51!!”
You Cannot Justify Injustice
There are seemingly unending reasons to
oppose Bill C-51, and the massive body
of writings created in opposition to Bill
C-51 is an important demonstration
of the broad and engaged opposition.
The text from the new petition created
to demand a repeal of Bill C-51 by the
Working Group to Oppose Bill C-51
in Vancouver offers a good summary of
some of the most important points:
“Bill C-51 drastically attacks the rights,
freedoms, liberties and privacy of all
Canadians.
It dangerously increases the police
powers of Canadian Security Intelligence
Services (CSIS) and RCMP, including
the power, with a warrant from a judge,
to violate in secret the constitutional and
legal rights of any citizen or resident
“suspected” of “terrorism,” an overly-
broad ill-defined notion.
All serious legal and academic opinion
in Canada including the Canadian Bar
Association, Civil Liberty Associations,
Amnesty International, all provincial
privacy commissioners and international
legal opinion condemns C-51 as a breach
of rights, freedoms, liberties and privacy
in Canada.
The argument that a ‘balance’ is needed
between ‘rights’ and ‘security’ is false;
the security of Canadians can only be
defended when the political, social, legal
and economic rights of all Canadians are
guaranteed.”
The Need to Continue
Despite the desired “chill” on dissent
intended by Bill C-51, the summer
months have seen groups continue
to educate, organize and mobilize
against the new law. In Vancouver, the
Working Group to Oppose Bill C-51
has continued to organize its consecutive
weekly picket actions against Bill C-51 in
busy transit hubs across the city and the
surrounding areas, with next week being
the 20
th
picket in 20 weeks. Anyone who
participates can attest to the fact that
public outcry against Bill C-51 has not
diminished. People continue to ask for
more information and for different ways
they can oppose Bill C-51.
Now is absolutely the most important
time to continue the grassroots public
campaign against Bill C-51. The
Conservative government has taken
advantage of the fact that despite the
majority of people in Canada opposing
policies like Bill C-51, they have not yet
become active and engaged to oppose
them. The campaign against Bill C-51
has so far been a major step forward
for getting people active and engaged
in defending their rights - in coming
to rallies, in talking to their friends and
families - in become active participants
in a political process. History has
demonstrated time and time again that
this is absolutely necessary if we wish to
change anything.
Grassroots organizations cannot afford to
not put the brakes on and simply hope
for the best in the upcoming Federal
Elections. If it was that easy we would
not be in this position! The elections are
tentatively slated for October 19, 2015 –
over four months away. A lot can change
and lot can happen in four months, and
it is possible that all of the hard won
organization and momentum we have
built so far could be lost if we don’t
continue to move forward. There must
continue to be an independent political
movement against Bill C-51 that
continues to build on the successes so far.
The basis for this is confirmed every time
we organize a public action against Bill
C-51.
Broader Fight
This grassroots organizing becomes so
much more necessary when we realize
that Bill C-51 is not the only dreadful
law recently passed in our broken and
corrupt political system. The Canadian
government is preparing itself for a
massive attack on the rights of poor and
working people, and Bill C-51 is only
the tip of the iceberg. If we don’t prepare
ourselves and organize to defend our
rights the loses will be tremendous.
On May 29 of this year, Bill C-24 became
law. The Conservative government tried to
justify its creation as part of the same fight
against “jihadi terrorism” as Bill C-51, but
in reality it is just another attack on the
most attacked and most vulnerable in
Canada. Bill C-24 gives the government
the power to revoke the citizenship of
anybody with dual citizenship (or even
just the possibility of obtaining it). As the
Globe and Mail national newspaper wrote
in their recent editorial condemning Bill
C-24, “The consequences are disturbing
and unfair for
Canada’s 863,000 dual
nationals...There is an
ugly, xenophobic side to
this law...” At minimum
Bill C-24 is intended to
scare immigrants and
refugees into silence,
but it also opens once
again the door to
the deportations of
protesters, activists and
social justice organizers
which were a common
practise of the Canadian
government during the
early years of union
organizing in Canada,
especially during
World War I.
Also, just before taking their summer
break, the government rammed through
the anti-union Bill C- 377. Conservative
Party Senators used their majority to
overrule their appointed Senate Speaker,
Leo Houskas, who had attempted to rule
their motion to cut debate and force a
final vote on the Bill out of order. Like
Bill C-51, the government has failed
to provide any real argument for why
they want to force unions specifically
to open their financial records to the
public , especially because unions are
already subject to federal, provincial
and territorial regulations regarding
their finances. As summarized by the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives,
“It’s highly discriminatory. Bill C-377
specifically targets labour organizations
for highly detailed reporting and
disclosure on a public website. No
other organization in Canada -- public,
private or crown corporations, non-profit
organizations, charities, political parties,
even fully-publicly funded government
departments, ministers, members of
parliament or senators -- are required
to report and publicly disclose details
of their internal finances and affairs to
anywhere the same degree unions will
have to under Bill C-377."
It’s another example of a deliberate
antagonistic attack on labour unions,
which have traditionally been a part of
leading the organizing efforts for the
major victories of poor and working
people in Canada, and continue to exist
as an important force which stands in the
way of a complete assault on our living
conditions by the government of Canada
and its big business allies.
Moving Forward
As we discussed in the last issue of Fire
This Time, the battle against Bill C-51
is part of a broader historical effort by
poor and working people to defend and
extend our rights in the face of constant
attacks. Regardless of any election
outcome, this fight must continue. We
must acknowledge the very real threat
to our rights and livelihoods if we allow
the government to force us down their
current path. They wouldn’t be attacking
our rights if they weren’t afraid of what
happens when we use them. So let’s make
use of them! Let’s continue organizing
and coming together, to oppose Bill
C-51, as well as any attack on anybody’s
rights!
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