There is no question the government must keep Canada safe from terrorist activities and threats, but Bill C-51 is not the answer. Bill C-51 is wide-sweeping in powers and gift-wrapped in rhetoric. We already have an arsenal of tools in the Criminal Code and other existing anti-terror legislation, which provides Canadian law enforcement and agencies with robust powers to fight terrorists. It was existing laws that successfully empowered Canadian police to thwart, arrest and charge suspects in the Toronto 18 and Via Rail terror plots. Bill C-51 simply increases government power in ways that can threaten innocent Canadians.
03/04/2015 09:51 EST
A State has no right to tell a person what to wear. For some, clothing such as long skirts worn by Mormons, or kippas worn by Jews, are all symbols that are inextricably mixed with a person's beliefs, values, and expression. To deny this fundamental choice of a how a person expresses his or her values is antithetical to respecting human dignity.
09/15/2013 01:05 EDT
Why should we care about Pussy Riot? Short answer -- freedom and democracy. Around the world supporters have protested their detention, conviction, and sentence by saying "I am Pussy Riot." They are right. As Canadians we have a stake in freedom and democracy everywhere, including in Russia, and in the case of Pussy Riot.
08/27/2012 12:50 EDT
August 10 is International Prisoner's Justice Day, which began in Canada 37 years ago. In 1974 a Canadian man, Edward Nalon, died in the segregation unit of an Ontario prison, resulting in a day of mourning for prisoners across the country. This is an important day to consider how we treat people behind bars, and to remember the goals of incarceration. It is also a day for us to ask many questions about our prison system as a whole, and to assess how some of the recent actions of the Canadian government may affect these conditions
08/10/2012 12:21 EDT
The U.S. has now agreed to transfer Omar Khadr to a Canadian prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. By law, the Canadian government should not obstruct his transfer to a Canadian prison. Here is why we believe it is time to repatriate Omar Khadr ASAP.
07/06/2012 07:36 EDT
June 26 is International Day in Support of Victims of Torture -- a day that requires reckoning. Canada itself does not torture and speaks out against torture -- this is good. But we may be missing the mark with some of our actions and omissions to support victims and condemn torture wherever we find it.
06/26/2012 12:15 EDT
May 2012 was Canada's turn to appear again before the UN Committee Against Torture. Governmental responses that the UN Committee should focus on countries worse than Canada don't make sense -- should a corporation with a strong ethical record say that it no longer needs to undergo audit processes because there are other corporations out there cooking the books?
06/08/2012 11:29 EDT
In the film <em>Casablanca</em>, the narrator tells us of the "tortuous roundabout refugee trail" that sprang up through Europe across the Mediterranean to Morocco, towards freedom in the Americas. If Bill C-31 had been in existence, those refugees would not have been looking to Canada -- is that the point?
04/05/2012 12:28 EDT
