The Anth Zone

Lady Liberty’s grin will be gleaming down on the House of Commons this evening after the opposition joined together in a trilateral force to protect the civil liberties of Canadians by successfully defeating the extension of the anti-terrorism measures.

Irwin Colter abstained because he felt, “the fact that [the provisions] have not been used means that they have not been abused, but they maybe needed in the future.” I can understand the position that Colter has taken and I agree with him to a degree. The measures could protect us in the future from acts of terrorism on Canadian soil in the future. The likelihood of such an attack has heightened since September 11th.

The federal government has been reminded that they cannot use a permanent felt marker to blackout the freedoms that are guaranteed under the national charter.

Under the former provisions under the anti-terrorism act the following sections were ‘blacked out’: ‘right to life, liberty, and security of person’ (s.7), ‘right from unreasonable search and seizures’ (s.8), ‘freedom from arbitrary detainment or imprisonment’ (s.9), ‘right to be informed of reasons for arrest including the right to retain counsel upon arrest’ (s.10), & ‘rights in criminal and penal matters such as the right to presumed innocent until proven guilty’ (s.11).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Canadian Politics, National Security, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.