Canada's Hope

 

The recent ruling by a federal court that the Trudeau government acted illegally in imposing the Emergency Act in 2022 gives a glimmer of hope that some human rights and some limits on the powers of the government of the day still exist in Canada. But it is only a glimmer—this ruling will be appealed to a higher court, and there is no reason for confidence that they will uphold it. Canadian courts have a bad reputation when it comes to defending human rights.

Jordan Peterson is right that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is no more substantial than the lofty guarantees of human rights in the Chinese constitution, or the old constitution of the USSR. Documents can say anything. By themselves they have no force. One needs to look at what governments actually do.

In Canada, we have no property rights. The government freezing of bank accounts under the arbitrarily imposed Emergency Act demonstrated this. And, of course, if it suits them, they do not recognize land title. Leaving aside seemingly endless “environmentalist” constraints on land use, they reserve the right to declare any property aboriginal land.

We have no mobility rights. The lockdowns demonstrated this. You could not board a plane or a bus without proof of vaccination; or at times at all. There are also endless restraints on the right to live and work in another province, due to arbitrary and onerous licensing requirements.

We have no freedom of speech. This has been true since the “Hate Laws” went on the books. The restrictions have become more aggressive almost monthly, up to and including compelled speech. 

We have no free press; we even have government censorship, like China, of the internet.

We have no right to peaceful assembly or to petition the government. This is what the Emergency Act was invoked to suppress. And participants are being prosecuted for the vague crime of “mischief.” Which could surely be construed to punish, Chinese Communist style, any act the government decided retroactively it did not like. The excuse that vital transportation corridors were being blocked by the protest is simply not true.

We have no freedom of religion. Merely quoting passages from the Bible may now be illegal. Any suggestion that homosexual sex is sinful, as all major religions teach, is a criminal offense. Churches are being burned down, with little reaction from authorities—or even with muted signs of approval.

We have no freedom of conscience. Doctors and nurses, for example, who have a moral objection to abortion or to assisted suicide, are legally required either to submit to patient wishes or at least to refer, making them accomplices in what they may consider grave sin.

We have no freedom of association. Various “affirmative action” programmes, for example, legislate whom we must hire or serve. And the lockdown and various government blacklists determine whom we must not associate with.

We have no equality. Aboriginal rights, for example, now being aggressively promoted, are in direct contravention of human equality. As are racial or gender quotas, and other such government initiatives. Like government programmes targeted specifically at funding “black” businesses. The “Gladue rule” is an unambiguous violation of equal protection under the law.

We have no right to life. Abortion is unrestricted and government funded in Canada. And now MAiD has been unleashed. Consent, granted, is still nominally required for the latter, but it is a perilously slippery slope. You can almost see the future. Homelessness has become an epidemic, governments seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Those who do not simply freeze to death are offered the friendlier option of assistance in dying. As we slide along this slippery toboggan run, one can foresee governments progressively cutting supports for the poor, distraught, or chronically ill, compelling them to “voluntarily” ask to be killed. 

This decision by the courts, if upheld may be our last chance to save Canadian from both tyranny and endemic poverty. 

Te alternative being a friendly invasion by the US, and no doubt the loss of Canadian independence, for whatever it is worth. Tucker Carlson, at least, is now openly calling for this.

And being cheered by huge crowds in Canada.