Bill C-51: The further erosion of the rights and freedoms of Canadians

February 16, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Dely Farrace
Are Canadians losing their rights and freedoms?
Justin Trudeau may be fearful of damaging repercussions should he oppose Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s bill, and rightly so as the Conservatives have demonstrated how they can turn positive ideals into security threats to Canada. With this bill, Harper has not only succeeded in muzzling scientists and his own MPs, but so too the opposition parties and all the citizens of Canada. How powerful he has become?
Harper’s new bill threatens to seriously and fundamentally erode the rights and freedoms of all Canadians. What is even more concerning is that two-thirds of Canadians are blindly supporting this statute because of growing threats of terrorism. The general population — good citizens, law-abiding people — believe that if we are innocent of crimes against our country, our laws will continue to protect us. Not so.
Essentially, police and security powers are being strengthened, just as Harper vowed in the legislature the day following the attack on Parliament Hill in October. The greater the power granted to authorities, the greater the potential for abuse of those powers. The fact is police officers can make mistakes, and sometimes these mistakes cost innocent lives. More disturbing is they can use these powers to further abuse civil rights with impunity. People should not expect the judicial system to necessarily protect them from this application of the proposed statute. After all, it will be the law.
As I wrote in my November article, “Hopefully, that security keeps Canadians safe and does not impinge on our rights and freedoms, the very values threatened by terrorism itself.” These very values are threatened by bill C-51.
Innocent people who are more vulnerable are most likely to be falsely accused under this new law. Let us hope they are not our youth who typically enter a rebellious stage in their lives and say things of which they truly don’t understand the full scale meaning or repercussions, or our adult children with developmental disabilities or those with mental health concerns or those who are simply ostracized by society whom people simply do not like. Let us hope that pointing a finger and yelling, “Terrorist” does not become the way innocent, unwanted people are going to be treated in the long or short term.
Harper is succeeding at muzzling Canadians, as expressed last week in the House of Commons by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. She agreed with the Globe and Mail’s editorial that “this parliament must not allow the Conservatives to turn CSIS into a secret police force.” May questioned the broad definition of “activities that affect the security of Canadians” by asking if the proposed law would apply to non-violent protests. Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney then spoke to the question, but typically did not answer it. Harper is succeeding at eroding Canada’s view and reputation for upholding the rights and freedoms of the people, especially the most vulnerable in our society.
Some of us may remember and find parallels to the War Measures Act invoked as an emergency measure by then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s reaction to a domestic terrorist uprising in Quebec. He used it to curb a very real, potential threat and possibly a civil war. There is a significant difference here. Bill C-51 is permanent. Once made into law, it will not be revoked. The War Measures Act was withdrawn once the threat was eliminated.
As a fundamental civil libertarian, Pierre Trudeau did not aspire to gain permanent, absolute power. He did have to use the WMA as a tool to regain control, but he restored people’s civil rights thereafter. This legislation would permanently erode our civil rights. Trudeau did not gain power, and then later move to enhance that power, continuing on an upward trajectory to authoritarianism. Harper appears to desire supremacy and the permanent erosion of fundamental rights and freedoms. Under this new legislation, we all need to be concerned that in advocating for our rights and freedoms, right to assembly and rights to free speech, we are not put us at risk of arrest for treason.
Although it is cliché, it is fitting to remind the Prime Minister and all in favour of bill C-51 that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.