03) QUEBEC JOINT DECLARATION AGAINST C-51
A coalition of over 100 Quebec organizations has voiced strong opposition to the Harper government’s “anti-terrorist” legislation. At a March 19 press conference, representatives of nearly every major labour, environmental and civil rights group in Quebec condemned Bill C-51, and urged members of the Quebec National Assembly to oppose the legislation. They also presented the following “Joint Declaration on anti-terrorism Bill C-51”.
We will not surrender to the fear campaign of the Canadian Govern-ment. We will not give up civil liberties in favour of strengthening security measures. We refuse to be manipulated in the name of security. We reject the project of the “anti-terrorist Bill C-51.”
The Government is not able to explain why these new measures are necessary to ensure our safety, considering the legal arsenal currently available. Already in 2001, Bill C-36 undermined our judicial and legal system by removing, in certain circum-stances, the guarantees recog-nized by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. C-51 goes much further.
The Arab and Muslim commun-ities have been particularly targeted in recent years, as evidenced by the cases of Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Muayyed Nureddin and Ahmad Abou-Elmaati. C-51 also proposes to include protest move-ments, environmental groups, Indigenous peoples, anti-capit-alists, citizens fighting against climate change, etc. Moreover, some groups have already been identified in the federal government’s policy to combat terrorism. Several articles of the draft law will define activities which affect the functioning of critical infrastructure (such as pipeline projects) or which interfere with the ability of the Government to maintain economic stability, as affecting the security of Canada, paving the way for implementation of repressive measures.
Also, since C-51 provides that only lawful protests will be not judged to contravene certain of its provisions, activities such as a demonstration prohibited under a municipal bylaw such as P-6, a simple “sit-in”, peaceful citizens actions, or a strike that is not within the parameters of the Labour Code, would contravene these pro-visions.
The Bill proposes the establishment of a comprehensive system of collection and exchange of information within the Government. These proposed measures are contrary to the current rules on protection of personal information. And all this, without adequate monitoring mechanisms of intelligence activities, or for appeal by people who are the object.
C-51 proposes the creation of a new offence, “advocating or promoting the commission of terrorism offences in general”, and allows for the seizure and destruction of terrorist propaganda material whose definitions are also very broad and ambiguous. The vague nature of the provisions may well undermine the freedom of expression by the effect of self-censorship.
Bill C-51 disproportionately expands the circumstances to allow preventive detention, weakens the degree of evidence necessary, lengthens the possible duration of this detention from 72 hours to 7 days, and hardens the conditions for release, all without a criminal charge. To justify such detention, it will suffice that a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe the possibility that an activity regarded as ‘terrorist’ may be undertaken.
Bill C-51 brings major changes to the mandate of CSIS, which had been limited to information gathering. It may now take steps to “reduce” a threat to the security of Canada, a definition so broad that it may include activities carried out by various social protest movements. CSIS may, subject to obtain a judicial warrant, act unlawfully and even take measures that will undermine the rights protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This power is totally unacceptable. The nature of the proposed in-camera judicial review procedure has nothing to do with allowing the courts to determine if there is any infringement of a right protected by the Charter.
C-51 in fact proposes the implementation of a vast integrated system of information gathering, investigation, preventive arrests, and interventions that may be contrary to the Charter, without any control and monitoring mechanism or means to exercise real surveillance on all these activities. In this context, we fear the creation of a political police and an increase in political profiling practices.
To combat and prevent terrorism, rather than adopting draconian measures, Governments must tackle the injustices built into system, be they political, economic, social or cultural, here and elsewhere in the world. Instead, this Bill risks labelling as terrorist individuals and organizations working to defend the common good.
While the federal Government must remove C-51, Quebec cannot remain silent about this Bill which could deprive individuals of the protection of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We therefore ask members of the House of Commons to defeat C-51, and those of the National Assembly to oppose this Bill.
(To read the huge list of endorsing groups, search online for “Déclaration commune contre C-51”.) n
(The above article is from the April 1-15, 2015 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)