CCLA Rights Watch
La veille sur les
droits et libertés

Conservative MPs on the House Justice Committee have sent a bill banning the use of masks by ‘rioters’ with an increased penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Bill C-309 would make it illegal for those rioting or participating in an ‘unlawful’ protest to conceal their identities. Despite section 351 of the Criminal Code already outlawing the use of a disguise while committing an indictable act, this new legislation would also apply to the non-indictable offence of participating in an ‘unlawful’ protest, giving another means for the police to persecute protestors. NDP MP Françoise Boivin worries that this bill will be “a way to pre-emptively arrest masked protesters, even if they’re peaceful.”

Another concern would arise if police decide to use tear gas and pepper spray to control a demonstration, as they did in the early 2000s in response to the anti-globalization movement. Protestors used vinegar soaked bandanas and gas masks to protect themselves from the toxic fumes. If the police deemed just protests ‘unlawful,’ would the use of protective masks be used as an additional charge to persecute dissent? Unfortunately, the answer is in all likelihood yes.

To read more click here.

A new CROP poll whose methodology and findings have been criticized is adding fuel to Québec’s language war fire. The Québec news magazine L’actualité devotes its cover story – complete with provocative cover photo – to the poll’s findings in what Lysiane Gagnon (journalist with the Globe and Mail) has termed “a call to war”.

L’actualité and the Parti Québecois have jumped on these findings in calling for a renewed conversation regarding the French language’s role in Québec society, and in Montréal in particular. The subject is never far from political center stage – a 67 year-old francophone woman who was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital following a stroke recently filed a complaint that she was unable to obtain service in her native tongue.

Public conversations on the matter are not merely vitriol. L’actualité’s website actually aggregates a diverse range of views on the subject.

The CROP polls numbers are available in PDF here.

Patterson Outdoor et CBS Outdoor plaident que le règlement de zonage Z-22 de la Ville de Dieppe brime leur droit constitutionnel à la liberté d’expression garantie à l’alinéa 2b) de la Charte canadienne. Un litige constitutionnel de cette magnitude représente une mini fortune pour les contribuables d’une municipalité. Bien que dans un monde idéal nous pouvions croire que la défense de nos droits ne connait aucun prix, un tel litige est, en réalité, taxant. Pour de plus ample renseignements, cliquez ici.

In the following paragraphs, second-year McGill Law students Farid Muttalib and Eric Brousseau exchange thoughts on the policing of protests.

Eric,

We’ve seen a spate of public demonstrations in Montreal over the past few months, some of which have ended in clashes with the police. In November, a major anti-tuition hike protest ended with riot police being deployed on McGill’s downtown campus. As part of pressure tactics aiming to compel the government to change its stance on tuition, students have occupied and surrounded various downtown buildings over the past few months. At the blockade of the Loto-Quebec building in early March, a young CEGEP student suffered a serious eye injury when a stun grenade blew up near his face. At the annual anti-police brutality protest last week, things took a turn for the worse fairly quickly, as some demonstrators clashed with police officers. This week, students were detained after having blocked the Champlain bridge, and the riot squad was deployed against Aveos workers, who had blocked Côte-Vertu boulevard.

Meanwhile, not far from our very own Faculty of Law, striking students from the Schools of Social Work and Nursing have created “picket lines” and are preventing access to Wilson Hall.

Mayor Tremblay recently called for a public debate to ensure that violence no longer occurs in the context of protests. Somewhat troublingly, however, he suggested that the city would look into measures that ensure that the rights of demonstrators do not infringe the “rights of society” (suggesting that they are two opposed groups). Tremblay deplored the high costs attached to policing protests, further complaining that the protests tarnished the city’s reputation and added to congestion.The mayor suggested that the city would explore the possibility of requiring permits, compelling demonstrators to register (their routes) with police, and possibly even outlawing face coverings – although he was clearly aware of the legal obstacles such measures would have to overcome.

In my humble opinion, it is very likely that major protests become even more common in the years to come, given the current “austerity” movement and the fact that social networking makes it very easy to quickly attract large groups of people to an event. In light of this possibility, it seems more important than ever to have a public debate on the role of free expression and the right to assembly in a democratic society. This should probably be done without the loaded terms advanced by Mayor Tremblay. Read the rest of this entry »

The white supremacist website, Stormfront.org, announced that there would be a white pride rally in Edmonton on March 24 supported by a group that calls itself Blood & Honour (see the announcement here).  The exact location of the rally will be announced the day before.

The Edmonton Journal has reported that Edmonton police “will have a visible presence during the rally to ensure that everybody’s rights to free speech have been respected.” However, no permit has yet been issued for the rally and councillor Amarjeet Sohi has informed Metro News that “the city will not be issuing a permit, because the content of the rally is hate.”

In response to the white pride rally, an anti-racism rally has also been planned for March 24 to be held from noon to 3 p.m. at End of Steel Park near the Old Strathcona Farmers Market.

Check out the articles below:

Edmonton Journal

Metro News

Suite à la manifestation du collectif opposé à la brutalité policière, le maire Tremblay, excédé par le grabuge causé chaque année à l’occasion de cet évènement, songe à interdire aux manifestants le port du masque et de la cagoule. Cette mesure permettrait, selon lui, de mettre un terme à ces démonstrations de violence et à poursuivre les auteurs de ces méfaits. Gérald Tremblay  mentionne qu’«une personne qui veut manifester et qui a des revendications légitimes n’a pas à se cacher». C’est ainsi qu’il justifie son désir de resserrer les règlements municipaux par cette interdiction. Il suggère également la possibilité d’imposer aux organisateurs de manifestation l’obligation de fournir leur itinéraire et d’obtenir un permis. Le président de la Ligue des droits et libertés, Dominique Peschard n’est cependant pas de cet avis. Selon lui, le code criminel interdit déjà le déguisement dans un dessein criminel et ce n’est pas aux policiers de juger si un déguisement est acceptable ou non. Il ajoute que cette mesure porte atteinte à la liberté d’expression et confère un pouvoir injustifié à l’autorité.

Source: Le Devoir du Samedi 17 et Dimanche 18 mars 2012

«More than 100 people were arrested and two were injured after a protest by Montreal students turned ugly on Thursday evening, with police firing tear gas into the crowd.

About 2,000 protesters headed north through the city, then west along Sherbrooke Street, but no police were visible along the route, although they were positioned on adjacent streets and in the city’s subway system.

 When about six officers did appear, a few protesters started throwing rocks at them. At one intersection, police fired off two loud stun grenades, sending a panic through the crowd. Protesters ran in all directions, but riot police formed a line, and banging on their shields with their batons, marched forward, shoving demonstrators north.»

McGill University has sent a letter to the Daily Publications Society (DPS), publisher of 2 of the campus’ most popular newspapers, demanding that they remove any links to the McGillLeaks website on their own website and that they stop referring to the leaked documents and information. (McGillLeaks is a website which has publicized confidential information regarding targeted donors and their personal information.)

The university has threatened to use “any available legal recourse to protect its rights and the rights of the third parties.”

The DPS feels that McGill’s tactics are an infringement of their freedom of expression. Their lawyer, Michael Bergman, argues that the information is no longer confidential, having been put in the public domain by McGillLeaks.

Nevertheless, the DPS is complying with McGill’s demands for now for fear of a lengthy – and costly – court battle.

“We’re not in a position to go to court over this,” said Aaron Vansintjan, chairperson of the DPS. “But we didn’t steal the documents and we believe we were within our rights because the documents were already in the public domain.

Read the full Montreal Gazette article here.

The provincial Liberal government is set to pass Bill 22, which will impose a cooling period and make strike action by teachers illegal. Teachers walked out for three days last week in protest to failed negotiations. The new legislation will impose stiff fines on teachers, even for work to rule action they had engaged in throughout the year.

The NDP opposition attempted to make an amendment to the bill that would have imposed a third party mediator to help end the dispute, a strategy that the government has rejected. There are serious concerns that the government is using legislation to substitute for serious bargaining, since the bill also imposes significant contract terms, including raising class size caps for special need and regular students.

Despite the chaos caused by the three day strike, BC residents appear to sympathize more with the teachers than the government, a warning sign to Premier Clark as she faces the electorate next year.

For more on the conflict read here.

L’Accord Commercial Anti-Contrefaçon surnommé l’ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) est un nouveau traité multilatéral conclut entre plusieurs pays dont le Canada qui vise à lutter contre la contrefaçon et le piratage. Ce traité s’appliquera autant aux  médicaments contrefaits qu’aux téléchargements internet afin de protéger les droits de la propriété intellectuelle. Cependant de nombreux groupes, comme La Quadrature du Net et Public Knowledge dénoncent ce traité comme étant une entrave à la liberté d’expression. Certains critiquent également le fait que des aspects de l’accord restent vagues et que celui-ci a été négocié en secret.  

Les médias canadiens ne semblent pas s’intéresser énormément à ce nouveau traité, par contre, il est très discuté dans de nombreux blogues. Des manifestations ont eu lieu dans plusieurs pays d’Europe ce qui a causé une certaine réticence de certains pays à ratifier l’accord comme la Pologne et l’Allemagne. Un député du Parlement européen, Kader Arif, a même démissionné suite à la signature de cet accord par le Parlement. Il a classifié l’ACTA de « mascarade». Le traité cause des remous en Europe, mais ne semble pas donner lieu à des soulèvements au Canada pour le moment. Le Canada à signer l’ACTA le 1er octobre 2011, mais n’est pas encore ratifié. Pour en savoir davantage sur l’ACTA, cliquer ici.