04) CAMPAIGN TO STOP C-51 CONTINUES

PV Montreal Bureau

            After the Conservatives’ proposed amendments, the Communist Party campaign against Bill C-51 is continuing with mobilizations for the second round of cross-Canada demonstrations on April 18, and a Stop C-51 speaking tour in British Columbia.

            The BC tour will feature CPC central organizer Johan Boyden at events in Surrey, Kamloops, Kelowna and North Vancouver, together with People’s Voice editor Kimball Cariou in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. Local community organizers will speak at some of the events. (Readers can phone the PV office at 604-255-2041 for details.)

            Calling the Bill “a war on democratic rights,” Boyden said the amendments show that public pressure works. “The Tories are warming up the Senate machine to fast-track the Bill,” he said, describing a pre-study process usually reserved for money bills with time-sensitive provisions.

            “They are trying to pass the bill before it draws more attention,” he said, noting the Communist Party is fully supporting the April 18 actions, and making the link between Harper’s reactionary domestic policies and a foreign policy agenda of imperialist war.

            One recent tour event took place in Montreal, where retired refugee and immigration lawyer Bill Sloan spoke after a showing of a new film called “The Secret Trial Five,” in which he is one of many people interviewed.

            The film, which looks at the human impact of the so-called “War on Terror,” is a sobering examination of the Canadian government’s use of security certificates. This Kafkaesque tool allows for indefinite detention without charges, based on evidence not revealed to the accused or their lawyers. Security certificates have been used to detain five men for nearly 30 years combined.

            “The powers [in Bill C-51] are open to abuse, and the police are known to abuse powers,” Sloan said, describing the legislation as “based on the same national security concept as was applied in the South American dictatorships in the 60s and 70s.”

            As an international human rights activist, Sloan has visited many countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.  In 2001, as President of the American Association of Jurists, he testified at a parliamentary committee about Bill C-35, concomitant legislation to the first anti-terrorism law, Bill C-36.

            “The first draft of Bill C-35 in 2001 [which was significantly amended in committee] would have given police similar kinds of powers we are seeing today in Bill C-51,” Sloan said, such as preventative arrest and increased surveillance powers.

            Both anti-terrorism bills came in shortly after the events of 9/11, and the Quebec City protests at the Summit of the Americas in April 2001. Sloan was involved in defending activist Jaggi Singh and others detained at Orsainville prison after the massive anti-FTAA protests.

            “When I visited inmates during the Summit of the Americas, every morning I would note the signatures of three FBI agents [who] spent their day interrogating people,” he told the parliamentary committee.

            All this legislation owes its legal heritage to what Sloan called “the Brazilian doctrine - where everything is justified for national security, with a very wide and over-broad definition.”

            He notes that C-51 could be described as building a kind of ante-chamber leading to fascism. “Of course, there are gradations,” he says. “It starts off with dirty tricks, then some go a little bad. But we already have cops abusing power and killing people.”

            Sloan pointed to recent events in Newfoundland, where an investigation by the Premier’s protection squad led to the shooting death of Don Dunphy, who had made a vague violent threat on twitter. Dunphy described himself on twitter as “a crucified injured worker from NL Canada where employers treat injured like criminals.”

            “If you give the police more power, they are not going to do less,” Sloan said, arguing that C-51 will create an organizational basis for the most dangerous and reactionary elements in the police forces, which are currently somewhat isolated, to further consolidate, coordinate and recruit.

            Sloan’s message echos that of the Ligue des droits et libertés. In an interview with People’s Voice last month, Dominique Peschard, spokesperson of the Ligue, said the law violates both the Canadian and Quebec Charters, based on the international covenants for social and political rights.
    “Acts which are prejudicial to the security of other states are also included in the bill. So people who promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign for Palestine, which the Canadian government has already said is a threat to Canadian security: does that mean that these people will be subjected to this law?” Peschard asked. 

            Former student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois told the Canadian Press that Bill C-51 could have had a serious impact on the morale of the 2012 student strike, noting that the police crossed the line many times during that social protest movement.  Québec Solidaire, the Parti Québécois, and Liberal Premier Philippe Couillard have also criticised the Bill. Last month the Parti Communiste du Québec was the only political party to sign on to a declaration of about 100 labour and community groups in Québec against C-51.

(The above article is from the April 16-30, 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.)