Liberal Decision on Anti-Terror Legislation Crucial
I was in Parliament on September 11th 2001. We were stocking desks in preparation for the upcoming session to begin six days later. The entire city of Ottawa was shut down.
When Parliament resumed on September 17th, Jean Chretien gave the best speech I have ever heard him deliver, about the new realities we had to face and above all, how we could not let our basic daily life change.
It took over a year to pass the anti-terror legislation C-36 and then C-55. Specifically sunset clauses were put into the bill at the request of the Bloc and the NDP, and with the support of the Liberal government. The goal of the sunset clauses were to see if the limits we placed on the freedoms of individual Canadians were too far-reaching, we could easily get rid of them in 5 years.
I was against the measures at first, writing about them on several occasions. The YLC(Q), who was on a Charter Rights craze at the time, was going to make the draconian measures a key part of out youth policy. Before I went forward with the resolutions, I decided to speak to Irwin Cotler, Justice Minister at the time. What Cotler told me will forever stay in my mind.
The Charter is there to protect individuals. However, there is a time for reasonable limits. In the three years following the legislation passing, the security certificates were used 4 times. All cases were put to a judge before being acted upon. The laws were only bad if they were abused. It is a reasonable limit on the law if the law is used reasonably. If the law is not used towards racial profiling, then we can trust the Canadian authorities with these powers.
I will write a letter to my MP imploring him to support renewing the powers granted under the previous legislation.
What I do NOT support is the rhetoric that those who think civil liberties are more important is deemed as “un-Canadian” pro-terrorist, and other bullshit.
There is no need for Republican fear-mongering scare tactics. The measures have enough standing on their own merit and I have enough faith in Canadian authorities not to abuse them.
This is a very important debate to have. Canadians on both sides of the issue should pay attention very closely.
When Parliament resumed on September 17th, Jean Chretien gave the best speech I have ever heard him deliver, about the new realities we had to face and above all, how we could not let our basic daily life change.
It took over a year to pass the anti-terror legislation C-36 and then C-55. Specifically sunset clauses were put into the bill at the request of the Bloc and the NDP, and with the support of the Liberal government. The goal of the sunset clauses were to see if the limits we placed on the freedoms of individual Canadians were too far-reaching, we could easily get rid of them in 5 years.
I was against the measures at first, writing about them on several occasions. The YLC(Q), who was on a Charter Rights craze at the time, was going to make the draconian measures a key part of out youth policy. Before I went forward with the resolutions, I decided to speak to Irwin Cotler, Justice Minister at the time. What Cotler told me will forever stay in my mind.
The Charter is there to protect individuals. However, there is a time for reasonable limits. In the three years following the legislation passing, the security certificates were used 4 times. All cases were put to a judge before being acted upon. The laws were only bad if they were abused. It is a reasonable limit on the law if the law is used reasonably. If the law is not used towards racial profiling, then we can trust the Canadian authorities with these powers.
I will write a letter to my MP imploring him to support renewing the powers granted under the previous legislation.
What I do NOT support is the rhetoric that those who think civil liberties are more important is deemed as “un-Canadian” pro-terrorist, and other bullshit.
There is no need for Republican fear-mongering scare tactics. The measures have enough standing on their own merit and I have enough faith in Canadian authorities not to abuse them.
This is a very important debate to have. Canadians on both sides of the issue should pay attention very closely.
par / by Anthony à / at 12:56 p.m.
3 Commentaires:
Hear hear!
Well said on all counts.
I'm glad the extra measures are ending. The world has not changed that much and we never needed them.
Nicely written
Good Job.
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