Bill C-51, popularly known as the “Secret
Police Law”, achieved a new level of infamy
in July. After managing to anger and alienate
almost every sector of society in Canada,
with its massive and purposefully vague
expansion of state powers of surveillance,
detention and secrecy, opposition became
international in a very high profile way. A
United Nations Human Rights Committee
review panel called out the new law for
opening the door to human rights abuses
and said it should be re-written. This is
just another chapter in the back and forth
drama the Conservative government had
hoped would be a short story, but which has
been turned into a long one by significant
and continuing opposition. While the
Conservative government has attempted
to rationalize and justify Bill C-51 using
fear, scandal after scandal has shown clearly
that it is much more about cracking down
on dissent by poor and working people
than protecting anyone from any so-called
“jihadi terrorists.”
Opposition Grows – Another Bad Month
for C-51
On July 23, 2015 the UN Human Rights
Committee submitted its most recent
report on Canada’s adherence to the
International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, a legally binding part of
the International Bill of Human Rights.
While it found much fault with Canada,
on issues such as missing and murdered
indigenous women, human rights abuses
by Canadian businesses in foreign countries
and prison conditions, it took particular
issue with Bill C-51. The report states Bill
C-51, “confers a broad mandate and powers
on the Canadian Security Intelligence
Service (CSIS) to act domestically and
abroad, thus potentially resulting in mass
surveillance and targeting activities that
are protected under the Covenant without
sufficient and clear legal safeguards.”
This wasn’t the only bad news for Bill C-51
that week. The Canadian Civil Liberties
Association (CCLA) and Canadian
Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
launched a Charter Challenge against
C-51 at the Ontario Superior Court, on the
grounds that many sections are unjustified
in a democratic society. In announcing
the Charter Challenge, Tom Henheffer,
executive director of CJFE said, “Bill C-51
is a grave threat to our rights in Canada. It
will lead to censorship and a massive chill
on free expression, and enables a potentially
widespread abuse of power.” Importantly,
the Charter Challenge surpassed its
internet crowd-funding goal of $25,000
in less than 3 days, and has now doubled
its target to $50,000.
Completely Unjustified
One of the primary issues with Bill
C-51 is the massive new powers it gives
Canada’s spy agency, CSIS. The newest
scandal to come to light is that CSIS
never really requested these powers! In
fact, the Canadian Press obtained a heavily
censored copy of a secret February 2014
presentation and a related memo where
CSIS told federal deputy ministers that
“significant improvements” to the sharing of
national-security information were possible
within the “existing legislative framework.”
So CSIS asked for some renovations, and
the Conservative government bulldozed
the house instead.
The RCMP are also the supposed
beneficiaries of Bill C-51, but even they
are grumbling. The Canadian Press
used the Access to Information Act to
obtain documents wherein the RCMP
complain that the new CSIS powers,
“could inadvertently jeopardize existing
relationships” they have fostered. They
are also concerned the changes will put
increased pressure on them to coordinate
with CSIS so that criminal investigations
are not “negatively affected” now that CSIS
has been given the undefined power of
“disruption.” Both agencies will now be
butting heads and intervening on the same
cases.
It is clear that Bill C-51’s changes are based
on a political agenda rather than practical
considerations for protecting people.
Fear is Their Tool
The primary justification for Bill C-51 by
the Conservative government has always
been about its necessity in the “War on
Terror.” In introducing Bill C-51, Stephen
Harper justified its extreme measures by
saying, “Our Government understands
that extreme jihadists have declared war
on us, on all free people, and on Canada
specifically.” Unfortunately, he hasn’t been
able to prove this so-called war “specifically”
on Canada.
In an attempt to heighten our fear
and establish a threat, Foreign Affairs
bureaucrats were told this year to produce
three terrorism-related statements for
minister Rob Nicholson to make to the
media each week. Unfortunately for the
government, its bureaucrats proved unable
and unwilling to fulfil this nonsense request.
So Stephen Harper has had to manufacture
his own exaggerated statements such as
this one:
“Canadians are targeted by these terrorists
for no other reason than that we are
Canadians. They want to harm us because
they hate our society and the values it
represents. Because they hate pluralism,
they hate tolerance, and they hate the
freedom of others, the freedom we enjoy.
Through their deeds, these jihadists have
declared war on Canada and with their
words, they urge others to join their
campaign of terror against Canadians.
Ladies and gentlemen, it would be a grave
mistake to ignore their threats.”
Three people have died in Canada from
domestic terrorist attacks in the last twenty
years. Almost that many people die every
day at work, mostly from unsafe working
conditions. A women is killed on average
every six days in Canada by a current or
former spouse or boyfriend. Ten people
die from suicide in Canada every single
day. Yet the Conservative government has
cut funding from women’s and mental
health programs, and made it easier for
employers to get away with unsafe working
conditions. If they were so concerned about
protecting people, why are are the blowing
up the threat of terrorism and ignoring real
problems which can actually be addressed?
The Real Reason for Bill C-51 – An
Attack on Dissent
As the
right-wing National Post
newspaper pointed out,
“Ultimately, however, the
legislation [Bill C-51]
raises more questions than
it answers — the most
basic being, ‘Why?’” The
Conservative government
failed to establish a threat,
and therefor obviously
failed to establish how Bill
C-51 would actually combat
the “jihadi terrorists” who,
according to them, are
poised at any moment to
leap out of the shadows
and take over Canada.
Many groups and
organizations have been
very right in pointing
out that Bill C-51 is an
unnecessary attack on
democratic rights and
freedom of speech, but we
must answer the National
Post’s question of “Why?”
if we really wish to defeat
Bill C-51.
For this it is important to
look at what is going on
around the world, where we can see
that Canada is not the only country
to enact similar laws.
- The United States has the Patriot
Act which it rushed into existence
following the September 11, 2001
attack on the World Trade Centre.
It allowed for greatly expanded
powers for surveillance, detention,
and secrecy and became the
prototype for many other
countries. It authorized indefinite
detentions of immigrants, gave
permission to enforcement
officers to search a home
or business without the
owner’s or the occupant’s
consent or knowledge and
also allowed the Federal
Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) to search telephone,
e-mail, and financial records
without a court order.
- Britain recently passed a
controversial new law called
the ‘Anti-Terrorism Bill 2015”
(the same name as Bill C-51!)
which demands educational
institutions monitor and limit
speech on campuses. University
vice-chancellors can now be
charged with “contempt of court backed by
criminal sanctions” if they do not enforce
the new guidelines which many have said
are intended to limit freedom of speech.
This is just the newest change, as the British
government had already created several
laws similar to the Patriot Act and Bill
C-51 in previous years.
- The French government passed a new law
this year which allows French intelligence
agents to plant cameras and recording
devices in private homes and cars as well
as to intercept phone conversations without
judicial oversight.
- In 2014, the Australian government passed
legislation which allowed the Australian
Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO)
broad access to computer networks, and
also imposes a possible ten-year prison
sentence on journalists and whistleblowers
who reveal “special” security operations.
Previous legislation already allowed
“preventative detention” to be imposed
on individuals without evidence.
What do the United States, Canada, France,
Britain and Australia have in common?
They are all imperialist countries which
have been actively involved in invading
and occupying countries, especially in
the Middle East, and especially since
September 11, 2001. The list of countries
either invaded, occupied, bombed,
threatened or sanctioned by these countries
and their allies has grown longer every
year: Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Somalia,
Sudan, Libya, Mali, Syria, Iran, Yemen...
the list goes on.
These are all countries which have naturally
had to divert resources from vital programs
such as healthcare and education to pay
for these increasing military exploits, and
are therefor concerned about the fightback
from the millions upon millions who
suffer domestically because of their war
priorities. They all also remember that the
single largest coordinated mobilizations in
human history were in opposition to the
impending war on Iraq in 2003.
These are all countries who have used the
“War on Terrorism” to justify their attacks
abroad, just as they are now using them
to increasingly shove through legislation
limiting democratic and human rights at
home.
As well, all of these countries are still
attempting to recover from the 2008
financial and market crisis, and their
solution has been to squeeze the lives
and living standards of poor and working
people instead of the massive corporations
who created the problem in the first place.
This has created, and will continue to create,
a lot of anger and frustration against
both the governments and the capitalist
corporations.
So Canada is not alone, and Bill C-51
is not unique in its attacks on poor and
working people, and especially it’s attack
on our ability to organize against the anti-
human policies imperialist governments are
imposing both at home and abroad. They
are trying to roll back all of the gains we
have made in the last 100 years, and limit
our ability as a whole to fightback and
defend our interests.
The Fight is Not Over!
The good news is that these governments
would not be trying to take away our rights
if they weren’t afraid of the possibilities if
we used them. The other good news is that
poor and working people have fought, and
won, similar battles many times throughout
history. How else do you think we secured
the rights we value today? They were all
won by poor and working people, just like
us, who decided to organize together and
improve the living conditions of everyone.
We simply need to follow in their footsteps,
and make some of our own as well!
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen
Harper has called for a Federal Election
for October 19, 2015. This will be the
longest election campaign period in over
100 years in Canada. Anger towards Bill
C-51 has not diminished since it was
passed into law, and groups around the
country continue to organize against it.
The campaign period is one of the few
times where politicians are forced to leave
the safe confines of Parliament Hill in
Ottawa and try to discuss political issues
with people across Canada. This makes it an
important opportunity to continue making
the defeat of Bill C-51 a central issue across
Canada – and continue to strengthen the
grassroots campaign which has sustained
the opposition since the beginning.
Regardless of who is elected, the most
necessary aspect of political life in Canada
is an active, engaged, determined and
united working class and its allies. The
opposition to Bill C-51 has shown time
and time again that it can play an important
role in expanding this. We need to continue
building on this momentum, to defeat Bill
C-51, and get back to creating a society
where the rights of poor and working
people are not only respected but reinforced
as well!
Repeal Bill C-51 Now!
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