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Anti-Terrorism Bill
He's been given a peace bond.
The government's contentious Bill C-51, political audits of charites, and treatment of First Nations are among the agenda items.
Bill C-51 is an omnibus anti-terrorism bill that grants CSIS new information sharing powers and converts CSIS from a covert intelligence gathering organization to a covert enforcement agency. Ms. Soapbox is here to offer four simple suggestions to keep you out of trouble when Stephen Harper's majority government finally passes this monstrous piece of legislation.
It is actually five bills rolled into one. Each part contains provisions I can only describe as dangerous. It is more than anti-terrorism, as the range of activities covered by a new and sweeping definition of "threats to the security of Canada" in the information sharing section of the bill covers far more than terrorism. It could plausibly cover just about anything, and certainly would cover those opposing pipelines and tankers.
Critics ranging from Jean Chretien to Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald all urge caution when it comes to Bill C-51.
The Harper government's anti-terrorism legislation is so vague it leaves open the door to the sharing of Canadians' information for any reason whatsoever, and the possibility of intelligence services investigating political activists.
The Harper government's newly introduced "anti-terrorism" legislature, Bill C-51, has been roundly condemned as an assault on privacy and free speech -- and rightly so. Besides hunting down would-be terrorists, the new laws could be used to stifle dissent, remove due process and lead to the creation of a secret police force, critics say. In a supposedly enlightened and democratic country such as Canada, these would be unwelcome developments to say the least. But there is a deeper cost to eroding privacy than just the spurring of undesirable changes in external entities such as courts and communications networks. Also at stake is the very freedom of Canadians to internally determine who they are and want to be.
