South Coast Today - BILL C-51

Opposition to Bill C-51 growing

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 13:56:53 +0000

Tags:

'Jihadist war on Canada" claims by Tories are fear-mongering, says former minister

Timothy Gillespie — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:56:54 +0000

“They haven’t at all really shown any evidence that there is radical Jihad in Canada...”

The Conservative Party is responding to an apparent rise in opposition to its contentious anti-terrorism bill with a pitch to party supporters saying one of the bill’s main goals is to “prevent the spread of radical jihad” in Canada.

While a range of critics, including the Canadian Bar Association, have overwhelmingly criticized the repressive effect elements of the bill could have on civil liberties in Canada, the Conservative Party, in email blitzes to members and supporters this week, also say one of the most important aspects of the legislation is “to combat the recruitment of Canadians for radical jihadist terrorist groups like ISIS.”

The message cites two high-profile recent cases of radicalization in Canada—including one in Ottawa where police successfully prevented two young men, twin brothers, from leaving the country with plans to travel to Syria to join Islamic State militants.

In the other case the Conservatives cite, six teenagers from Montreal managed to fly out of Canada to travel to Syria or Iraq before police or security agents could stop them.

“One of the most important aspects of our new anti-terrorism legislation is cracking down on people trying to use as a recruitment ground for ISIS,” the party email says. “Those who would attempt to abuse the rights enjoyed by Canadians to spread their ideology of hate must be stopped,” the email says. “We also want to prevent the heartache of families who have learned that their sons and daughters have, aided by these criminals, flown to Iraq and Syria.”

SEE FULL HILL TIMES STORY

Tags:

VIDEO: Law expert says Bill C-51 gives Canada's spy agency power to violate the Constitution

Timothy Gillespie — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 23:26:50 +0000

Speaking Friday at a Parliamentary committee looking at Bill C-51, University of Ottawa law professor Craig Forcese demanded the Conservatives "amend the bill to remove any reference to the Charter being contravened by CSIS."

SEE PROGRESS STORY HERE

Facebook Like

Tags:

BILL C-51

stephen harper

6 things you need to know about Bill C-51

Timothy Gillespie — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 01:46:52 +0000

At over 60 pages, Bill C-51 -- the Anti-Terrorism Act -- is a heavy read. The bill proposes a myriad of radical changes to Canadian law and to Canada's national security apparatus, many of which seriously jeopardize the rights and freedoms of Canadians while promising little improvement to public safety.

Canada's privacy commissioner, ex-CSIS officials, former prime ministers and international whistleblower Edward Snowden have all raised alarm about the bill's impacts on Canadians' freedom and privacy.

Here's what lawyers think about Bill C-51:

1. Drastically expands the definition of 'security.'

2. Gives the government too much discretion .

3. Will severely chill freedom of expression.

4. Will allow government institutions to share information about you with the RCMP.

5. Proposes to make Canada's troubling regime of preventative arrest and detention even worse

6. Would give CSIS the power to act like a police force, while still allowing it to operate secretly as an intelligence gathering service.

SEE FULL STORY IN TYEE

Tags:

Opinion: Don't let anti-terror legislation erode Canadian freedoms

Timothy Gillespie — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 11:22:58 +0000

Tom Mulcair, Special to National Post | February 18, 2015 |
In recent months, horrific terrorist attacks have shocked the world and united Canadians. Mourning has brought us together and strengthened our resolve to defend our way of life against the cowards wanting to intimidate us and erode our freedoms. That’s the Canada that stood together in grief and defiance the day after the Parliament Hill shooting, pledging that violence would not — even for a day — halt the work of our democracy.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is Canada’s leader of the Official Opposition.

See full story in National Post

Tags:

Rex Murphy calls for war against Stephen Harper's terror bill

Timothy Gillespie — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 10:09:13 +0000

**And they will say that this was Rex Murphy's finest hour.**

FROM THE PRESS PROGRESS: The CBC freelancer just issued the nation its ultimate call to arms, challenging Canadians to fight Stephen Harper's new anti-terrorism bill clause by clause, and word by word -- and to refuse to cede an inch of freedom beyond what is needed.

"Every clause should be fought over," Murphy said on CBC's The National Thursday night. "Every potential advance on the liberty of the citizen should be examined as to its ultimate necessity."

Murphy added: "The powers and agencies to be granted license to monitor and investigate outside or beyond the protections normally in place must be put to the fullest Parliamentary, media and democratic testing.... We should not abridge our liberties or set up mechanisms to abridge them without the fullest and most strenuous scrutiny and opposition we are capable of."

Canadians of all political persuasions and all points of view should all find common cause in challenging the Conservatives as they attempt to cut off debate on Harper's new terror bill.

"That's not the way we do things" in this country. Watch:

Tags:

Pussy Riot Releases ‘I Can’t Breathe,’ a Protest Song for Eric Garner

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 15:53:35 +0000

Two members of Pussy Riot, the Russian activist group, have made their first foray into English-language protest music, with the help of a who’s who of indie rockers. In a video released Wednesday for a song called “I Can’t Breathe,” Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who were jailed for protesting in Russia, are buried in black dirt, while wearing Russian police uniforms.

see NYT story: https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/pussy-riot-releases-i-cant-...

Tags:

Opinion: We will NOT be governed by fear

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:36:41 +0000

An online petition to Stephen Harper is being signed by citizens concerned by the far-reaching powers to be provided to CSIS under the new proposed anti-terrorism bill, who are calling on Harper to protect privacy for Canadians. The theme for the petition is "We will not be governed by fear."

SEE PETITION HERE

See news stories here:

Facebook Like

Tags:

stephen harper

BILL C-51

canada spy legislation

Opinion: One step closer to the end of privacy

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 18:43:37 +0000

The new information sharing law in Bill C-51 will relax constraints on the flow of information between government agencies about “activities that undermine the security of Canada.” This change has not received as much attention as have other features of the bill. This is unfortunate because, as with other features of Bill C-51, this proposed law is not balanced.

“Big data” technology enables incredibly detailed and potentially intrusive monitoring and scrutiny of people’s behaviour. Law stands as the bulwark against the end of privacy, and this bill makes the law weaker.

Recent events raise real concerns about terrorism, and there may be a case for increased information sharing. The Air India Commission even recommended mandatory sharing by CSIS to prevent another such attack. So information sharing is required. But it must be reasonable in its scope and be countered with effective review to ensure that the information shared is reliable and respects privacy.

If the ill provoking this change is terrorism, then a law that relaxes rules on information sharing should be about terrorism. That is not what Bill C-51 is about.

The law creates a radical new concept of activities that “undermine the security of Canada.” It sweeps in anything “undermining” (whatever that means) the lives and security of Canadian people and the sovereignty, security or territorial integrity of Canada. The only exception is “lawful” protest, dissent or artistic expression. Note the reference to “lawful.” If your protest fails to comply with municipal permitting regulations, it is fairly characterized as “unlawful.”

The law names examples. They include activities aimed at changing or “unduly influencing” any Canadian government by force — or merely “unlawful means.” Students protesting tuition beware.

It names activities in Canada that undermine the security of another state. Any state. Diaspora groups denouncing repressive regimes should be attentive.

It names activities that interfere with “critical infrastructure.” Any interference. Environmental or Aboriginal protest groups pay heed.

Also included: threats to Canada’s territorial integrity. Sovereigntist and First Nations groups take note.

Bill C-51 speaks of information sharing aimed at “detection, identification, analysis, prevention, investigation or disruption” of these “threats.” And so the government may be empowered to distribute information pre-emptively, in anticipation of this sort of conduct that may be unlawful.

In sum, it is hard not to read this bill as aimed at “total information awareness” of real threats, and also more banal forms of dissent.

But even if it were more reasonable in its scope, this bill fails to include proper safeguards.

Information can injure. Improperly shared information may result in rumours and innuendo being reconceived as fact, and used to justify action.

Information sharing lay at the core of the Arar commission of inquiry. There, the RCMP shared inaccurate information with the U.S. that associated Arar with Al Qaeda. Information sharing played a role in Arar’s rendition to Syria as well as the torture of three other Canadians, Adbullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmaati and Muayyed Nureddin.

The Arar commission recognized (wisely) that integrated information sharing must be matched and balanced with integrated independent and self-initiated review to ensure reliability, relevance, and compliance with Charter and privacy rights. The government has failed to act on its recommendations and continues to do so in this bill.

The government promises its conduct will be subject to review by the Privacy Commissioner. In 2014, the Privacy Commissioner issued a report that recognized that the Privacy Act had not been substantially amended since the 1980s and that the Commissioner required more powers to ensure integrated review of secret information. Those amendments are not included in Bill C-51.

Nor should we expect judicial oversight. As Justice Dennis O’Connor recognized in the Arar Commission report, standard judicial review cannot effectively review information sharing because so few cases end in prosecutions. People may not even know that secret information about them has been shared.

We may need good, modernized information sharing laws. We may even need mandatory information sharing in some cases. Bill C-51 is not this legislation. It is not balanced and it radically authorizes sharing of information unrelated to terrorism. It deserves the most careful debate in Parliament.

Craig Forcese and Kent Roach teach national security at the Universities of Ottawa and Toronto respectively and Roach worked with both the Arar and Air India commissions. They have posted detailed legal analyses of Bill C-51 at www.antiterrorlaw.ca.

Tags: