By Gerry Caplan, rabble.ca – I’ve often referred in these columns to some of my reliable authorities — the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Rideau Institute, The Daily Show — but let me introduce here three others that I find indispensable. In no particular order: Anyone apprehensive about how our liberties are being eroded before our very eyes — secret surveillance, the punishment of dissent — should not miss the weekly News Digest issued by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. Despite its name, the ICLMG is an all-Canadian coalition of 38 national civil society organizations that focuses both on Canada and elsewhere. The digest publishes “news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, civil liberties and other issues related to the mandate and concerns of ICLMG and its member organizations.” The 38 members are a Who’s Who of progressive, activist Canada, and among them they represent just about every decent tendency in the country, including representatives of Muslims, Jews and Christians, trade unions, students, profs, lawyers, NGOs, refugees, environmentalists and any other virtuous groups you can think of. When Harperland compiles its “enemies list,” it surely includes most of the 38 — a badge of honour by any reckoning. Read more
ICLMG in the media
Op-Ed: Canadians need answers on domestic spying powers
This is an op-ed written by Warren Allmand on behalf of ICLMG and published in the Toronto Star
Canadians should heed the uproar in the United States, Europe and Latin America over the recent revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) is spying, without warrants, on e-mails, faxes and telephone calls going into and out of or simply transiting through the country. The fear is that data collection and data-mining systems used by the NSA are not just monitoring suspected terrorists, but also filtering through the international, and possibly even domestic, communications of potentially all ordinary law-abiding citizens. What is even more startling is that Canadian security agencies have been authorized to do the same thing here, and may be using the same approach to conduct vast data-mining of our communications. Read more
Civil liberties, pro-democracy, privacy rights, and open Internet groups call for answers on secret government spying program
rabble.ca – A group of organizations focused on civil liberties, pro-democracy, privacy rights, and open access to the Internet have joined to together to demand answers and immediate action from the government after it was revealed that a secretive government agency has been spying on the telephone and Internet activities of individuals, including law-abiding Canadians. The organizations speaking out today include the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (BCFIPA), Council of Canadians, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Leadnow, OpenMedia.ca, Privacy & Access Council of Canada, the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association, and the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC). OpenMedia.ca worked with many of these same organizations to host the StopSpying.ca campaign that successfully defeated the government’s online spying bill C-30. Read more