By Ray Rivers
March 11, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Is Bill C-51, Canada’s proposed new ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation, more onerous than the government’s Emergencies Act ( formerly War Measures Act)?
Some readers will recall the controversy when Former PM Trudeau introduced this instrument, back in 1970, to quell the terrorist threat posed by Quebec separatists. Well, at least one civil rights organization in the country is putting it in those terms.
The question this new legislation begs is how many civil liberties are we prepared to surrender in the hope that the mitigative measures, specified in this bill, will prevent potential acts of terror. Yet perhaps the real question is whether these new measures will make much of a difference at all. Bluntly put, is moving towards a police state the most effective approach to dealing with the seeds and buds of the kind of discontent that motivates an individual, or group, to strike out violently against fellow Canadians?
Take Parliament shooter, Zehaf-Bibeau, whose actions have led to this bill, though it wasn’t the first time someone had tried to commit an act of terror on the Hill. Still, his gunfire did force a sitting PM, for the first time in history, to take refuge in a closet. And what about the hunting rifle he used? Nobody seems to know because the PM had abolished the long gun registry some years ago.
The RCMP have defined Zehaf-Bibeau as a terrorist. Here he is seen running into the House of Commons where he was killed minutes later.
Oh the sad irony of it all. First the government kills the registry over a few complaints concerning the right to gun owners’ privacy. And now, the government introduces draconian rules that reduce all of our civil liberties, because of a crime committed with an unregistered gun.
And would the police have been able to stop either Zehaf-Bibeau or Couture-Rouleau, (who ran down soldiers in Quebec) had they been equipped with the new powers given in C-51? Both of these men were already well-known to authorities. And yet neither could not be kept in detention forever, even with this new law.
Nobody said that building a multi-cultural society would be easy. Each new strand of diversity necessarily brings with it some baggage, whether that be an historic Irish Catholic/Orange squabble, anti-Semitism or Islamic terrorism. In the latter case, world events, and especially the emergence of this barbaric ISIS, who have created a creed of terror out of a religion of peace, has made Canadians wary.
So perhaps that is where the government should start the process of keeping us safe. But preventative measures such as education and the establishment of cross-cultural linkages are not on the cards in this bill or in anything else this government is considering. Instead we see greater powers of surveillance, police detention and censorship – the kind of restrictive measures we want to criticize other nations for deploying.
And greater censorship of the airways (internet) has broader implications, particularly when we observe the absence of any provision in the bill for meaningful oversight. It seems that judges and ministers of government, rather than Parliament, will call the shots and do the accounting. The executive excluding the legislative arm of government from oversight, in political lingo, is a dangerous departure for a free and open society.
Queen Elizabeth II signing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Does one lone-wolf terrorist Justino the close to wholesale loss of basic rights without significant oversight? Or is this a ploy to frighten citizens and win an election? It’s been done before.
The NDP would scrap this bill if elected and the Liberals, hoping to diffuse a potential Tory campaign issue, will support its passage. But Mr. Trudeau has promised, if elected, to alter the law to make it better subscribe to our Charter of Rights and less likely to suffer a challenge at the Supreme Court. But then, this PM and his minister of justice seem to dwell in their on-going irreverence for the highest court in the land. It is as if they, themselves, have subsumed that role.
In the end, the government will pass this law with or without the support of the other parties. And while everyone agrees that we need to do more to prevent the kinds of terrorist activities we’ve seen recently, the harshest criticism may be that just ramming in new police measures to quell terrorism is simply not doing enough to keep us safe.
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran as a Liberal against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links
War Measures Act Better? Anti-Terrorism Act Bill C-51 B.C. Concerns
Defending the Bill Totalitarianism? Censorship Big Data
Dangerous Legislation Parliament Shooter Soldier Attack
One brief point to remember in regard to Bill C-51: the former Prime Ministers, from both parties, have spoken out against it because it goes too far. Ray, I appreciated you pointing out the irony of Harper cancelling the long gun registry, and then proposing this bill, with its far greater restrictions.
Good piece, but let me correct you a bit. While the NDP will vote against Bill 51 they aren’t committed to scrapping it if, in the unlikely event, they form a government.
https://globalnews.ca/news/1843737/given-the-power-mulcair-would-amend-anti-terror-bill-not-repeal-it/
Wow….comparing Harper to Bin Laden…..really?
All the pillars of the social safety net have been destroyed……really?
(Education – provincial responsibility, medicare – provincial responsibility)
Wow….Bin Laden eh?
I would hope that the new legislation goes after the biggest bully that has terrorized Canadians over the past 10 years—that would be P.M. Harper. To the Veterans and seniors, to children, unions, medicare and all the pillars of the social safety net that we have worked so hard over the decades to achieve some meagre protection, he has been Canada’s version of Bin Laden. I eagerly await his early arrest and can hardly wait for the laugh track to be inserted in his feeble defence; hopefully there will be no cubbyhole for him to hide in this time. Bullies can only maintain their power as long as we let them spread their fear. His judgment day too, will come; hopefully in this year’s election.
I seem to recall, Mr. Rivers, that after the Ottawa incident you were critical of the government because it should have “known” that when it sent the air force to bomb ISIS it was going to get this kind of backlash from the Islamic wingnuts in this country. According to you it should have been better prepared to prevent such domestic attacks. Bill C-51 will give powers to the authorities to step in and detain suspects before they execute their plans. It is the answer to your criticism and we should now refer to it as “Ray’s Lsw”.