The Kamloops office of Conservative MP Cathy McLeod was among the dozens of sites across Canada that saw protests against the government’s proposed anti-terrorism legislation during a “Day of Action to Stop Bill C-51” on March 14.
Opponents are worried Bill C-51 gives too much power to Canada’s spy agency and infringes on privacy and democratic rights.
The NDP candidate running against McLeod in the Kamloops-Thomspon-Cariboo riding spoke at the event. Bill Sundhu, a lawyer and former judge who has experience in international human rights law, said Bill C-51 is “seriously flawed,” and “dangerously vague” and puts politics ahead of protecting Canadians.
“The threat of terrorism is real and the protection of the public must be paramount. However, standing up for our values and refusing to allow cowardly attackers to change our way of life doesn’t mean we must sacrifice our hard fought freedoms.”
Broad new powers without enhanced oversight for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), provisions that could impact legitimate dissent, and the fact the government has not produced any plan to counter radicalization in Canadian communities, are some of the problems Sundhu sees with the omnibus bill.
Sundhu is part of a Canadian Bar Association team analyzing the bill.
“The overwhelming legal expertise is not onside with Bill C-51. The Conservative government has recently experienced half a dozen losses in the Supreme Court for violations of the Charter. This is a cynical government that does not value meaningful Charter compliance and puts crass politics ahead of respect for fundamental freedoms and the Charter of Rights.”
Speaking about the bill in parliamentary committee in February, McLeod said “the international jihadi movement has declared war on Canada,” and the NDP is sowing confusion about what is contained in the bill, specifically that the legislation would allow the targeting of legitimate protesters, which is inaccurate.
“Under the legislation, the threshold for CSIS to engage in disruption is met if there are reasonable grounds to believe a particular activity constitutes a threat to the security of Canada. Previously, CSIS did not have disruption powers, allowing it only to collect and retain information….
“To be quite frank, if CSIS knows of an imminent threat, I want it to be able to act, not turn the information over to another agency so that maybe some action will be taken after whatever has been planned has been completed.”
