By Yul Baritugo
A huge Canada-wide opposition to a deceptively packaged Conservative anti- terror bill that suppresses Charter rights including freedom of the press — and even outright freedom of thought as a valid expression of dissent — is expected to transform itself into a rabid anti- Conservative movement nationwide in the coming days.
Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Act appear to allow the use of evidence obtained by torture,” Green Party leader Elizabeth May revealed.
This developed as hundreds of groups coalesce into a united front including some 36,000-strong Canadian Bar Association, Canada’s biggest lawyer’s group, huge digital grassroot organizations such as OpenMedia, LeadNow, DeSmog Canada and other outstanding individuals such as six former Supreme Court justices, four former Prime Ministers, BC’s Premier Christy Clarke including over 100 law experts from the academe, personalities like Conrad Black, Rex Murphy, Tom Mulcair and the entire NDP, The Assembly of First Nation, and the editorial positions of the Globe and Mail, National Post and Toronto Star.
The Metro Van Independent News likewise adopts the same position.
Writing in her blog originally published by Saanich News, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, a lawyer herself, revealed that the Conservative Bill C51 “is actually five bills rolled into one.”
“Each part contains provisions I can only describe as dangerous. For example, part 5, amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Act, appear to allow the use of evidence obtained by torture.”
“Part 3, ostensibly about getting terrorist propaganda off the Internet, uses a set of new concepts that would criminalize private conversations — and not just about terrorism.”
“The propaganda section does not require knowing you are spreading propaganda and “terrorist propaganda” has a definition so broad as to include a visual representation (a Che Guevera poster?) promoting a new concept called “terrorism in general.” Experts are now referring to this as “thought chill.”
People blocked the streets of Granville and Georgia to protest the new anti-terror bill, C-51. Photo by Bert Morelos.
This is by far the worse ideological Conservative attack against Canada’s criminal justice system while subverting, at the same time, Canada’s democratic political structure in the name of big business such as American company Kinder Morgan who will now be considered, under Bill C51, as part of Canada’s critical infrastructure.
Anti-petroleum activist are already being demonized in internal RCMP memos as environmental extremist threat – while CSIS targets them as multi-issue extremists — a status that can evolve under Bill C51 into becoming a terrorist by legal fiat.
The government, under Bill C51, can declare anybody a terrorist even without the hapless Canadian citizen being targeted — knowing it.
If Bill C-51 becomes too hot to handle, the Conservatives — or big oil business groups behind them — had planned an alternative solution. It had tabled a bill to amend the authority of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) when it comes to access to sensitive information including those who have crossed the threshold and had become full-pledged citizens. The Charter protections on citizens are supposed to be equal but these amendment targets immigrants who are now Canadians. The evil Conservative plot appears Orwellian.
Without judicial oversight, the CIC plan to access sensitive information – including tax returns which is protected by law when filled – in a law enforcement action they will unilaterally declare.
The agency, without explicit legal authority by law, or proper leave through the courts, will declare a file a law enforcement matter and thus invoke the need to gather tax information and other details about an individual and share it with 17 other agencies. CIC, however, is technically not a law enforcement agency.
Observers noted that the citizenship process is a combination of administrative and quasi-judicial action that CIC now alleges to have flaws. As a result, they want authority not only to access sensitive individual information including but not limited to tax returns, among others, and share the same with other agencies, who have no explicit authority under existing laws, to get sensitive personal information on migrants who had become citizens.
Legal pundits said the move is clearly in violation of section 15 of the Charter of Rights which mandates equal protection under the law. The power will only cover immigrants. The authority to access this information is widely believed to be against provisions of the Income Tax Act and Privacy Act., among others.
“There is a need to clarify and make explicit the legislative authority for CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) to share personal information through its different business lines and with these partners,” CIC said in a release.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Bar Association slammed the Conservative’s anti-terrorism bill claiming it contains “ill-considered” measures that will deprive Canadians of liberties without increasing their safety.
The bar association objects to the planned transformation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service into an agency that could actively disrupt terror plots.
It argues the bill’s “vague and overly broad language” would capture legitimate activity, including environmental and aboriginal protests — and possibly put a chill on expressions of dissent.
The most worrying element of the bill is a provision that would give judges the power to authorize CSIS violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the association says.
It potentially brings “the entire Charter into jeopardy, undermines the rule of law, and goes against the fundamental role of judges as the protectors of Canada’s constitutional rights.”
The association, which represents more than 36,000 lawyers across Canada, released a draft summary of its concerns recently. It has developed a full submission drawing on the input of experts in criminal, immigration, privacy and charities law.
Association representatives are scheduled to appear before the House of Commons committee studying the bill.
