While today’s unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down Canada’s controversial security certificates was not a direct attack on Stephen Harper, given his latest antics, I like to close my eyes and conjure up the image of the nine Supremes lining up to give Harper the finger. Actually, it’s the Charter of Rights giving Harper the finger, because once again, the Court has acknowledged that arbitrary discrimination is completely unacceptable.
In this case, the Court ruled that it’s unconstitutional to detain non-citizens indefinitely without giving them access to the evidence (or even the charges!) against them. And yeah, yeah, I know, this law way pre-dated Harper, but I like to think of this judgment as a little love letter to “Canada’s new government.”
I almost puked during the federal election, when Harper staged convenient photo ops with various cultural communities, spreading the message that gay marriage would threaten their religious rights. He used oppression of the queer community as leverage to try to attract immigrant voters.
And now he’s at it again, surrounding himself with the families of the Air India victims, trying to bolster his bid to maintain some of the most egregious aspects of Canada’s anti-terror legislation (preventative arrests and investigative hearings) … claiming that he is somehow protecting minority communities by severely restricting their human rights. Because who is suffering the brunt of the anti-terror madness? People of colour, particularly of Arab descent, who are subject to racial profiling and discrimination based on their immigration status.
To read more about the experiences of minority communities under Canada’s new anti-terror regime, check out the final report of the People’s Commission on Immigration “Security” Measures.
I imagine that the Anti-Terrorism Act will land on the Supremes’ desk some time soon … no wonder “Steve” hates the courts so much.
– Cross posted to Dykes Against Harper