Open Media: How to delete Bill C-51 | Unpublished
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Open Media: How to delete Bill C-51

July 7, 2016

“The scale of information sharing between government departments and agencies being proposed in this bill is unprecedented. The new powers that would be created are excessive and the privacy safeguards being proposed are seriously deficient. All Canadians – not only terrorism suspects – will be caught in this web.” 1

– Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Daniel Therrien
 

Canada’s spy agency CSE is in court, struggling to explain how it accidentally shared innocent citizens’ private metadata with foreign governments.2 If we don’t act fast to repeal C-51, reckless privacy breaches like this will not only be legal, they’ll be the new normal.

Very soon, the Canadian Government will be holding an online consultation about Bill C-51. We need your help to send them a strong message. This consultation is our best remaining chance to repeal C-51.

It’s very important that we start right away.

Over 400,000 of us have spoken out, and the Government is starting to listen. But we have to keep at it if we want to win.

This is about more than just law and policy. It’s about who we are as a nation: if you believe there is nothing Canadian about undermining our fundamental rights, please join us in this fight before time runs out.

For the internet, Laura and your OpenMedia team

Backgrounder

Why are we against bill C-51? You can read our C-51 Primer in PDF below. 

Don’t just take our word for it. You can see our sources in the footnotes below.

FAQ

“The Trudeau government is still pretty new — shouldn’t we give them time to make a decision before you demand they repeal C-51?”

We can’t risk waiting to find out what decision they’ll make for us. This is an active consultation and we are being asked to speak up.3 If enough of us take action, then they can’t help but see how many Canadians want new legislation that defends our rights and freedoms.

“I want this bill amended, not repealed. Aren’t some parts are worth keeping?”

Too many harmful portions4 of this legislation will remain on the books unless we repeal C-51. We don’t believe it’s possible to build positive change on such a compromised foundation.

Footnotes

[1] Privacy Commissioner raises concerns about Bill C-51 Office of the Privacy Commissioner
[2] Canadian electronic spy agency’s unlawful metadata sharing went on for years before being fixed National Post
[3] Liberals' C-51 Changes Open To Consultations, Public Safety Minister Says Huffington Post
[4] 8 things you need to know about Bill C-51 BCCLA