From: Communist Party of Canada <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 14:23:55 -0400
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: People's Voice articles - Sept. 1 - 15, 2001
PEOPLE’S VOICE ON-LINE
Issue of September 1 - 15, 2001
ARTICLES FROM THE COMMUNIST PRESS IN CANADA
4) DANGEROUS “ANTI-TERRORISM BILL MUST BE STOPPED!
C-16 -- “star chamber” legislation
Special to the PV
OF THE MANY political storms expected to blow through Parliament in the new
session, one will surely be over the Chrétien government’s high-handed
attempt to strip away fundamental democratic and legal rights in the name
of “fighting terrorism.”
At issue is Bill C-16, the government’s proposed “anti-terrorism”
legislation. The proposed law would strip Canadian charities of their
tax-free status if they engage in fundraising for unspecified “terrorist”
groups abroad.
When the bill was first introduced in the House last spring, it was roundly
denounced as a dangerous attack on democracy by several ethnic
organizations, civil liberties groups, the NDP and the Communist Party,
among others.
The draft legislation is so “Orwellian” in character, even some of the
Liberal backbenchers on the House Finance Committee (where the bill is
under review) have been forced to distance themselves from the government
bill. Roger Gallaway (Sarnia--Lambton, Lib.) referred to C-16 as “rubbish.”
Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay insists that the legislation is
necessary to bring Canada into line with the 1996 Ministerial Conference of
the G-8 which called for “appropriate domestic measures [to counteract] the
financing of terrorists and terrorist organizations, whether such financing
is direct or indirect through organizations which also have, or claim to
have charitable, social or cultural goals.”
However, C-16 would violate basic and well-entrenched legal principles and
democratic rights in the process.
Under the bill, punitive action will not only be taken against any
registered charity which makes available any of its resources “directly or
indirectly” to any organization or person engaged in terrorism or
activities in support of terrorism. It can also be taken if, in the opinion
of the government (and especially CSIS, its security intelligence branch),
a registered charity is contemplating future fundraising for organizations
abroad which, in turn may, in the future, engage in terrorism or activities
in support of terrorism!
To make matters worse, the government is so far refusing to provide a clear
definition of what constitutes “terrorism,” or to make public which
organizations abroad it considers to be “terrorist,” even though CSIS has
admitted having such a list.
In the opinion of many legal experts and international solidarity
activists, these provisions would create an atmosphere of fear and
paranoia, impelling charities to steer away from supporting any
international projects which could be deemed even remotely political and
oppositional to governments in other countries.
Jehad Aliweiwi of the Canadian Arab Federation accuses the government of
“using a sledgehammer to kill a fly,” noting that many of its member
organizations feel that the legislation is tailored to target them through
“guilt by association.”
“C-16 is a crude form of intimidation intended to bludgeon groups in Canada
into withholding assistance from any but the most tepid,
government-endorsed projects,” stated Communist Party leader Miguel
Figueroa.
“If this legislation had been in place back in the 1980s, Canadian
charities could well have been punished for supporting organizations and
projects in South Africa which were sympathetic to the ANC and the struggle
against apartheid.”
Figueroa said that the purposely vague definition of “terrorism” would give
the government a virtual ‘carte blanche’ to single out progressive, left
and revolutionary organizations. He demanded that any “terrorist”
designation be subject to public scrutiny, and not held in secret,
arbitrary CSIS ‘black lists.’
“Mr. MacAulay should be called upon to state publicly and explicitly who
his government considers to be ‘terrorists.’ Were the anti-FTAA protesters
in Quebec City ‘terrorists,’ as Toronto police chief Fantino so shamefully
dubbed them? How about Nelson Mandela? Canadians groaned in embarrassment
when Rob Anders (of the Canadian Alliance) called him a ‘terrorist,’ but it
is worth recalling that the U.S. government considered Mandela and the ANC
‘terrorists’ right up until his release and the ANC’s unbanning!”
Equally disturbing is the wholesale scuttling of legal “due process” under
C-16 provisions. According to the Act, if the government charges a charity,
the case is brought before a federal judge in closed court. The specifics
of the charges are then presented to the judge in his chambers by ministry
officials and CSIS agents, while the legal counsel of the accused charity
is barred from being present. If the judge is convinced in this
‘behind-closed-doors’ session that the charity has violated the Act, then
the judge will issue his verdict, without any opportunity for the charity’s
legal defence to examine the evidence, or cross-examine any witnesses.
Furthermore, court ruling is deemed to be final with no
possibility of appeal to a higher court. If the ruling goes against the
charity, it is automatically stripped of its tax-free status, and the
decision is made public, forever branding that charity as a sponsor of
‘international terrorism.”
Arthur Drache of the Canadian Bar Association condemned C-16 as
“legislation that does away with all the normal evidentiary standards if we
go to court. We don't get to examine witnesses; we get summaries of what a
witness says. We may not know who the witness is. Absolutely none of the
rights given to Canadians generally are given to charities in this
particular situation. We find it really quite appalling.”
“People are telling me that they simply cannot believe a country
like Canada could come up with a piece of legislation that is so
anti-democratic, so contrary to the principles of law in Commonwealth
jurisdictions. They simply cannot believe it.”
CPC leader Figueroa went further: “This is nothing less than
setting up a ‘star chamber’ a dangerous step toward the complete negation
of democratic principles and norms, toward a police-state in Canada.”
“There is no possibility of amending or ‘prettifying’ this Third
Reich-style legislation; the government must be forced to withdraw it
entirely. Democratic-minded Canadians need to step up pressure and
mobilizations to ensure that this happens.”
***************
5) LEFT CANDIDATES STAND IN QUEBEC BY-ELECTIONS
Special to People's Voice
DESPITE A FEW growing pains, Quebec's Union of Progressive Forces is ready
to challenge the Parti Québecois and the Liberals in several by-elections
this fall. The campaigns are widely seen as a dry run for a provincial
election in 2002.
In one of the most interesting races, the coalition of left-wing
parties is backing independent aboriginal candidate Christian Flamand in
Laviolette, a riding north of Jean Chrétien's Shawinigan region. Flamand is
a leading activist from the Attikamik Nation, working as a youth consultant
for the band council. Located in the northern part of Laviolette, the
Attikamik reserve has a population of several thousand.
Flamand is widely known for his role in organizing roadblocks
against clear-cutting by pulp and paper companies on the reserve. His
campaign will focus on issues such as fighting poverty and youth suicide.
Although Flamand has not been endorsed by the Attikamik band council, his
is one of the first major campaigns for the Quebec National Assembly by an
aboriginal person, and he has established a campaign committee on the
reserve. A second committee will campaign in the southern part of the
riding, mainly composed of non-aboriginal voters.
Flamand's official agent is Bob Aubin, one of the top vote-getters
for the Communist Party in last fall's federal election. The Parti
Communiste du Quebec is among the parties which formed the UPF to contest
the April 2001 by-election in the Montreal riding of Mercier, taking 24% of
the vote for labour activist Paul Cliche. Many voters disenchanted with the
government's shift to right-wing positions cast their ballots for Cliche,
and the PQ lost the riding for the first time in thirty years.
Many observers expect the UPF to do well in this fall's
by-elections. PQ Premier Bernard Landry has vowed that the Mercier result
will not be repeated, but the media is now paying much closer attention to
the UPF's platform and candidates.
On the north shore of Montreal, teacher Therese Hamel, a member of
the RAP, will run for the UPF in the riding of Blainville. The residential
suburb is another long-time stronghold of the PQ, which has nominated the
former head of Tennis Canada as its candidate.
Hamel will campaign on the need to continue the popular battle
against the FTAA. Unlike any current member of the National Assembly, she
took part in the April demonstrations in Quebec City. Hamel will also focus
on opposition to the PQ's anti-working class changes to progressive
sections of the provincial Labour Code dating back to the 1970s, and on
support for aboriginal rights.
Another member of the RAP, Gilbert Talbot, will run as the UPF
candidate in Jonquiere, the riding near Quebec City held by Lucien Bouchard
until his resignation earlier this year. There will not be a UPF candidate
in Saguenay, another north shore constituency facing a by-election.
In a setback for the UPF, the Quebec Green Party has temporarily
left the alliance. The majority of the Greens' Quebec leadership still
favours participation in the coalition, but apparently they fear opposition
from a significant part of their members. However, the Greens will not run
candidates in the four by-elections, and the decision may be changed at
some point.
The UPF's platform for the by-elections will be announced at a
Sept. 4 news conference with the leaders of the PCQ, the RAP, and the PDS.
A more detailed platform is being drawn up for the alliance in time for the
next election.
*************
6) BC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN A TAILSPIN
By Hanne Gidora
IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE, the B.C. Liberal government has taken away the
democratic rights of 40,000 health care workers, namely the Registered
Nurses, Registered Psychiatric Nurses and Health Sciences Professionals.
On August 7, one day before the government-imposed "cooling-off"
period would have expired, the legislature voted to force the employers'
contract proposals onto the unions. In the case of the BC Nurses Union,
they had rejected this offer by a vote of 96.6%. Many nurses reacted
angrily and threw up protest picket lines. They were crushed by a holy
alliance of government, employer association, the courts and their
sycophants in the mainstream media.
The government mantra is that "this contract will make B.C. nurses
the highest paid in the country." Aside from the fact that this is not
true, the new contract also includes significant concessions, such as
increasing the increment steps from six up to nine. A new graduate will now
have to put in nine years of full time work at reduced wages before getting
to the proper wage. "Increments are definitely a gender issue," said a
member of the nurses' bargaining committee. "Where do you find a male
dominated profession where you have to work for nine years to get your
proper wage? This is not an incentive for young people to go into nursing."
The nurses are supposed to be happy to receive a 23.5% wage
increase over three years. The Health Sciences Professionals who were swept
up in the government's action don't even have this consolation. Their wages
will increase from 5.5% to 14.5%, creating a two-tiered system depending on
whether their particular profession is experiencing shortages. Part of the
higher increase is considered a "bonus" and will not continue after this
contract.
As an HSA chief steward states: "They have totally gone along with
the employer. What about HEABC's failure to bargain in good faith? They
didn't even show up when we met with a mediator. You don't see that
splashed all over the papers." HSA and other unions in the Paramedical
Bargaining Association had conducted a two-day walkout in protest over the
employers' failure to bargain at the end of July.
The healthcare system in B.C. is still in a tailspin. Closures of
emergency wards, cancelled surgeries, transfers of patients to other
provinces or the US have become commonplace. Some emergency doctors at
Royal Columbian Hospital have publicly aired their frustration with the
lack of nurses.
The government has announced plans to recruit speciality nurses
abroad and to attract former nurses back into the profession. Those plans
are not new; they are based on recommendations formulated by BCNU and the
previous government in 1999 and 2000.
There are several problems with the schemes. It takes at least
four years to educate a nurse. The waiting period for a seat is still about
two years. There are not enough instructors to quickly expand the programs.
Mentors and preceptors for clinical practicums are in short supply, as
staff nurses who normally fulfill those roles are stretched to the max just
to keep the system going.
As one nurse said, "If money isn't the answer, what is? There was
enough money to create the biggest cabinet in B.C. history; enough money
for tax cuts; enough money so the deputy ministers got fat raises, but no
more money for health care. Something is wrong here."
Indeed.
***************
7) WORKERS END DISPUTE AT BUHLER VERSATILE
By Darrell Rankin, Winnipeg
AFTER A COURAGEOUS struggle against an unscrupulous boss, members of CAW
Local 2224 at Buhler-Versatile voted 93 per cent on August 13 to accept a
deal that gives full back pay and severance. The 230 workers went on strike
last November 3, and then were locked out on March 27, 2001. During the
nine-month work stoppage, not one member of Local 2224 crossed the line to
scab at the last tractor factory in Canada. The owner, John Buhler,
promised to save the workers' jobs when he bought the factory. But when it
was revealed that he had bought land in Fargo, North Dakota, Buhler was
forced to admit his intention to move the factory.
The way to the $17.5 million compensation package was paved in
June by a Manitoba Labour Board ruling that found Buhler guilty of bad
faith bargaining. The Board held him liable for $6 million in compensation
to the workers for the strike.
Throughout the dispute, members of Local 2224 displayed unity and
solidarity on the picket line, rallying public support and government
action to keep the factory in Canada. A March 3 mass meeting with over
1,000 workers and family members voted unanimously to call on the Manitoba
and federal government to take the factory over.
Versatile workers collected petitions, rallied in front of the
legislature and lobbied politicians, but it became clear that the Manitoba
NDP government -- where most efforts were placed -- would do nothing to
save the factory. The failure of the government to act in the interests of
the workers is widely seen as a bitter lesson about social democracy's
reluctance to challenge corporate power.
The Winnipeg Labour Council voted to support public ownership of
the factory and to organize solidarity pickets. Petitioners found a high
level of awareness and support among the general public, but the Versatile
workers were hampered by the sanctions imposed by the Canadian Labour
Congress against the CAW last year (since resolved), and by difficulties in
mobilizing broad and active public support.
The strike also brought out once again Manitoba's lack of
anti-scab, severance and plant closure laws. An important lesson is that
stronger unity and action of the Manitoba labour movement and other
people's organizations was needed to keep the Versatile factory and jobs in
the province.
***************
8) SOLIDARITY AND PRIDE ARE UNION ISSUES
By Jane Bouey
THERE HAS BEEN a tendency (thankfully a diminishing one) for some on the
left to view lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and two-spirited (LGBT)
trade unionists as somehow not "real" trade unionists. You know what I'm
talking about - the suspicion that to celebrate our identity and to fight
for queer rights is somehow a diversion from "real" working class issues.
Those notions were blown to smithereens at the Canadian Labour Congress'
Second "Solidarity and Pride" Conference held June 24-27 in Vancouver.
Looking around the room, I recognized many brothers and sisters
from my previous work in anti-globalization, anti-racism, anti-poverty,
solidarity and particularly women's movements. The participants and
organizers at this conference were among the most active and committed
trade unionists in the country.
Workshops and speakers focused on themes such as injecting class
perspective into the policies of our LGBT community, as well as the
struggle for our rights in the workplace and in society as a whole.
Speakers included CLC Vice-President Hassan Yussuff, BC Federation
of Labour President Jim Sinclair, Mary Woo Sims (then head of the BC Human
Rights Commission), Francois Bellemare (President, CUPE Airline Division),
Winnipeg School Trustee Kristine Barr, John Fisher (Executive Director of
EGALE), gay and anti-racist activist Raymond Liens, transgender activist
Gail Owen, Sara Luthers (AFL-CIO Pride at Work), and MP Svend Robinson.
Over and over, speakers linked the struggles for LGBT rights and
for the rights of the working class as a whole -- in particular the
struggle against corporate globalization. Sara Luthers from Pride at Work
noted that her members had a left influence on both the AFL-CIO and the
LGBT movement. Mary Woo Sims pointed to the labour movement's history in
the struggle for equality and social change. (Mary has since been fired by
the BC Liberal government; a letter writing protest against the dismissal
has begun).
While we have won many victories, there is a long way to go.
Homophobia and transphobia are still a major obstacle in the workplace.
Participants in the conference were predominately from public sector unions
where, in relative terms, it easier to be out. As one speaker said, "its
easier to be an out gay flight attendant, than an out gay mill worker." The
conference was predominantly white and English-speaking, reflecting some
language and cultural barriers; commitments were made to take steps to
overcome these barriers.
A recent report of Amnesty International outlines the horrific
oppression that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people still
face around the world. Seventy states prohibit homosexuality, and in some
it is an act punishable by death. Participants and speakers shared their
own personal experiences of being gay-bashed and discriminated against.
One of the main focuses at Solidarity and Pride was the rights of
transgendered people; there is still no explicit protection for trans in
any human rights laws in Canada. Participants were united in the commitment
to fight for trans rights in the workplace and in the rest of society.
I wish that those who deny the importance of integrating the fight
for LGBT rights into the work of the left (and vice-versa) could experience
a forum like this one. As Mary Woo Sims remarked, it is important, "... as
we gain our rights, to always ask if anyone has been left out."
Now more than ever we must remember that an injury to one is an
injury to all. As Jim Sinclair summed it up, "In whose tool box is
homophobia (and transphobia)? Who benefits? If we are divided, the winner
is always the boss."
(RedFem Report is a column by members of the Central Women's
Commission, Communist Party of Canada.)
***************
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Communist Party of Canada
290A Danforth Ave.,
Toronto, Ont. M4K 1N6
416-469-2446 (voice)
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