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Canada's Privacy Commissioner, for his part, argued that, Bill C-51 "would potentially lead to disproportionately large amounts of personal information of ordinary, law-abiding citizens being collected and shared," and that, "this sets up the prospect of profiling and Big Data analytics on all Canadians."
Surveillance of law-abiding citizens, under the watchful eye of "Thought Police" has the effect of putting a "chill" on freedoms of expression and assembly as guaranteed by Canada's Charter of Rights.
It is not consistent with free and democratic societies, but it is yet another hallmark of Police State repression.
Subvert Rule of law:
Bill C-51 violates Section 35 of Canada's Constitution by negating and denying rather than recognizing and affirming aboriginal and treaty rights. First Nations have not been adequately consulted according to Canadian law.
Additionally, Bill C-51 derogates international rights. According to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), issues that impact First Nations (such as Bill C-51) require the Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) of the impacted communities.
Cast criticism as 'espionage' and dissent as 'treason'
Bill C-51 also subverts the rule of law by using poorly defined words that could be interpreted in a myriad of ways. Megan Drysdale explains in "The Top 6 ways You Will Be Affected By Bill C-51" that "innocent words" could be "interpreted as terrorism":
"Innocent words
can be interpreted as terrorism
Bill C-51 broadens the scope of propagation crimes to include advocating
or promoting 'terrorism
offences in general.' The wording of the bill is broad enough that a terrorist purpose is not required. Speaking privately about solutions to controversial
conflicts or debating an academic opinion that 'may' cause a listener to commit
a terrorist offence could count as an indictable offence for you, regardless of your own intentions. 'Being reckless,' as the bill
describes it, can lead to up to five years in prison."
Theoretically, then, an individual who exercises his/her freedom of dissent, and freedom to resist could be falsely branded in catch-all terms such as "terrorism", or "espionage", or even "treason".
Government intentions revealed themselves in November, 2011 when NDP MPs Megan Leslie and Claude Gravelle were accused of treachery for travelling to Washington to communicate the NDP position regarding the tar sands. Leslie explained that they went "to propose a sustainable jobs strategy under a long term green energy future and to let her American interlocutors know there are Canadians who want tougher regulation of the tar sands."
Restrict The Press:
The press has long been compromised by corporate monopoly ownership, but now public media is increasingly compromised as well, so much so that media has basically become an "arm of the government".
A December 11, 2014 article entitled "The Conservative Broadcasting Corporation" , for example, shows that membership of the government-appointed Board Of Directors for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), is dominated by people who are, or have been, financial contributors to the reigning Conservative Party of Canada.
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