Editor, The Times:
“Oh, my God!” declared my late waggish friend, “All this saying no I'm beginning to feel like a 19th Century Victorian virgin.”
We'd just returned from protesting Fisheries and Oceans' destructive policies, which incidentally continue to this day (I've just returned from the north end of Vancouver Island, so I've personally witnessed the financial chaos in places like Alert Bay, Port Hardy, not to mention Sointula and Port McNeil).
My friend has gone to that great picket line in the sky. I'm still stumbling around, still trying to save the world.
So Saturday, March 14, was no different when I and a group of like-minded citizens gathered across from the Wells Gray Inn to protest Bill C-51 – the Harper government's anti-terror bill.
These are dark times. The threat of terrorism is real enough. One has to really wonder. One hundred boys and girls from Canada gone off to join ISIS. How did we so fail to get our democratic values through to these obviously misguided youths?
Before joining the gang in front of the Wells Gray Inn I had been listening to two professors on CBC discussing Bill C-51. What they had to say simply confirmed that this bill is 'overkill' in the worst way.
One provision is that a judge cannot question sources of information. In other words, it could come from torture.
This, along with some ill-defined stuff about vital economic interests, should send shivers down any observant person's spine.
Although Bill C-51 might catch a terrorist or two, it is clearly aimed at environmentalists, First Nations, unions and others who might stand in the way of corporate greed and rapaciousness. It also has been pointed out that the RCMP needs more resources. But this would mean less money in the pockets of Harper's need-rich friends. So better have some draconian bill!
A pickup from Alberta stopped in front of me. The occupant in it said, “Do you realize that if Bill C-51 passes, what you are doing here will be illegal?”
My reply, “That's why I'm here today!
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C.