More than 2,000 people gathered at Nathan Phillips Square Saturday afternoon to protest a new bill that would allow government increased access to personal information.
The downtown Toronto rally was just one of several being held across the country for a “day of action” against Bill C-51 – a new law proposed in January meant to mitigate the risk of terrorism by allowing government agencies to increase their policing powers.
Critics of the bill say they are most concerned with increased powers given to Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Agents would be allowed to share information with other government departments, including law enforcement agencies, and critics say that means there is more of a chance someone’s charter rights will be violated. A website titled Stop C-FI calls the legislation the “Secret Police Bill.”
The Conservative government said the bill responds to the increased threat of terrorism, particularly here in Canada. Two Canadian soldiers were attacked last October and most recently, the RCMP announced they had uncovered a terror plot against the U.S. consulate on University Avenue.
Steve Blaney, Canada’s public safety minister, told the House of Commons in March terrorists are targeting Canada.
“The international jihadist movement has declared war on Canada and our allies,” he said at the time. “As we have seen, terrorists are targeting Canadians simply because they despise our society and the values it represents.”
In an email to CP24.com Saturday, a spokesperson for Blaney reiterated the bill is meant to protect Canadians.
“We reject the argument that every time we talk about security, our freedoms are threatened,” Blaney’s spokesperson Jeremy Laurin said in an email. “Canadians understand that their freedom and security go hand in hand. Canadians expect us to protect both, and there are safeguards in this legislation to do exactly that."
He noted the bill “does not include lawful advocacy, protest, dissent and artistic expression."
But critics say the bill doesn’t do enough to protect the privacy and freedoms of Canadians.
“I think the bill is needed to an extent. There is something that needs to be done but there’s not enough being done to critique it and go through it point by point to see if it’s what Canadians need,“ Siobhan MacFarlane, a protester who attended the Toronto rally, told CP24.
Lisa May Buchanan, another protester at the rally, said the government had other options to boost the country’s security.
“(The government) is disguising this bill as a way to take complete control and strip our rights away,” she said. “It could have been a much less harsh bill to protect us against terrorism.”
The protesters took their cause to the offices of CSIS on Front Street. They marched from Nathan Phillips Square on Queen Street down University Avenue to Front Street. They paused for several minutes at the intersection of University Avenue and Queen Street, blocking traffic in an effort to spread their message to commuters.
The Stop C-51 website says 87,170 people have signed a petition against the bill.
“We’re hoping our daughter will be raised in the same Canada we were raised,” protester Blair Buchanan told CP24. “A free country.”
