Reg. Bill C-51, The Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015
Dear Editor:
OTTAWA – The Indigenous Bar Association shares this message to give voice to its deep concerns with Bill C-51 for all Canadians and for Indigenous peoples in particular.
The IBA is a national association comprised of Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Metis) lawyers, legal academics, articling clerks and law students, including graduate and post-graduate law students. The IBA is a not-for-profit federal corporation mandated, amongst other things, to promote the advancement of legal and social justice for Indigenous peoples in Canada, as well as the reform of laws and policies affecting Indigenous peoples.
Our concerns with Bill C-51, even given its proposed amendments, are manifold. We share the concerns given voice by many other groups, including that if passed into law, Bill C-51 would:
- Unduly privilege economic interests over social, political and legal interests;
- Dramatically mobilize Canada’s security and surveillance apparatuses without protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of Canadians. On the contrary, the erosion of Canadian civil and political rights appears as the condition that allows for the vast expansion in the state’s powers of security and surveillance;
- Serve to criminalize dissent. Worse, it would serve to move claims that have always been contemplated under Canadian law within the dis ...
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