{"id":827,"date":"2015-04-05T02:03:48","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T06:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=827"},"modified":"2015-04-05T02:03:48","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T06:03:48","slug":"edward-snowden-warns-canadians-to-be-extraordinarily-cautious-over-anti-terror-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=827","title":{"rendered":"Edward Snowden Warns Canadians To Be &#8216;Extraordinarily Cautious&#8217; Over Anti-Terror Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Edward Snowden Warns Canadians To Be &#8216;Extraordinarily Cautious&#8217; Over Anti-Terror Bill<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>The Huffington Post Canada \u00a0|\u00a0 By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/ziann-lum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"author\">Zi-Ann Lum<\/a><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed students at a Toronto private school via video link on Monday to warn about the perils of being complacent as the government makes sweeping changes to Canada\u2019s anti-terrorism laws.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say we should always be extraordinarily cautious when we see governments trying to set up a new secret police within their own countries,\u201d Snowden said in a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ucc.on.ca\/wac-2015-keynote\/\" target=\"_blank\">livestream feed<\/a>\u00a0from Russia. He made reference to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.parl.gc.ca\/HousePublications\/Publication.aspx?Language=E&amp;Mode=1&amp;DocId=6932136&amp;File=29#1\" target=\"_blank\">Bill C-51<\/a>, legislation tabled by the Conservative government days earlier.<\/p>\n<p>More than 900 students attended the talk titled, \u201cPrivacy vs. Security: A Discussion of Personal Privacy in the Digital Age\u201d hosted at Upper Canada College. Nearly 1,400 watched the live broadcast online.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Snowden urged the audience to be adept at lining up facts versus rhetoric with emergency legislations born from times of \u201cfear and panic.\u201d He added though Canada is not unique in its anti-terrorism laws and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/2015\/01\/29\/cse-levitation-mass-surveillance_n_6569292.html\" target=\"_blank\">surveillance programs<\/a>, it\u2019s important to be critical toward political arguments championing their necessity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce we let these power get rolling it\u2019s very difficult to stop that pull through,\u201d Snowden said. \u201cSo I would say that we need to use extraordinary scrutiny in every society, in every country, in every state to make sure that the laws we live under are the ones we truly want and truly need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Journalist\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/2014\/10\/23\/glenn-greenwald-canada_n_6037434.html\" target=\"_blank\">Glenn Greenwald\u00a0<\/a>was also on hand for the keynote via conference call.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Using \u2018fearmongering\u2019 as vehicle for legislation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Despite the sharp uptick in terrorism rhetoric after two Canadian soldiers were killed within days of each other last year by \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/martin-rouleau-quebec-driver-shot-by-police-radicalized-rcmp-1.2806104\" target=\"_blank\">radicalized<\/a>\u201d attackers, the former Guardian journalist says a Canadian\u2019s real-world chance of being killed in a terrorist attack is \u201cinfinitesimal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you are a Canadian citizen, you have a greater chance of dying by being struck by lightning; or by going to a restaurant and eating a meal that will give you an intestinal disease; or by slipping in your bathtub, hitting your head on the ceramic tile than you do dying in a terrorist attack,\u201d said Greenwald.<\/p>\n<p>He criticized what he sees as the Conservative government\u2019s tactic of using fear to untether the weight of public scrutiny to push the anti-terrorism measures into law. \u201cYour government continuously hypes the threat and tells you that unless you give it more and more power it will be incapable of saving you from this threat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd this fearmongering is a very dangerous, yet very effective form of persuading people to submit to things you otherwise wouldn\u2019t submit to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>New anti-terrorism measures \u2018more about politics\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the Harper government tabled its much-anticipated anti-terrorism legislation designed to give Canadian security and intelligence services more powers and more flex from the RCMP.<\/p>\n<p>If passed into law, changes would see the standard of evidence needed to obtain warrants lowered. Police would also be given authority to extend the amount of time they can detain someone without charge if that person is suspected to be involved in terrorist activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJihadist terrorism is not a future possibility, it is a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/2015\/01\/30\/anti-terror-bill-spy-agency-conservatives_n_6580614.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-politics\" target=\"_blank\">present reality<\/a>,\u201d Harper said at the announcement. \u201cIt seeks to harm us here in Canada, in our cities and in our neighbourhoods through horrific acts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The measures are intended to curb\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.parl.gc.ca\/HousePublications\/Publication.aspx?Language=E&amp;Mode=1&amp;DocId=6932136&amp;File=29#1\" target=\"_blank\">nine interpretations<\/a>\u00a0of \u201cactivities that undermine the security of Canada\u201d \u2014 including a broadly-worded clause criminalizing any \u201cinterference with the capability of the government of Canada in relation to intelligence, defence, border operations, public safety, the administration of justice, diplomatic or consular relations, or the economic or financial stability of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the omnibus legislation isn\u2019t bringing peace of mind to one prominent Ottawa-based human rights and civil liberties lawyer.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hilltimes.com\/news\/legislation\/2015\/02\/02\/anti-terrorism-bill-more-about-politics-than-public-safety-says-civil\/40946\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Champ<\/a>\u00a0told The Hill Times the election-year timing of the bill utilizes it as a \u201cpolitical wedge issue of sorts\u201d that has already tempered NDP and Liberals reaction to be \u201cin kind\u201d than \u201ctaking a principled stand on civil liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s clear both from the manner of the prime minister\u2019s announcement, and unfortunately the response of the opposition parties, that this bill is far more about politics than public safety,\u201d Champ said.<\/p>\n<p>Reporters were\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.ca\/2015\/01\/29\/csis-anti-terror-bill_n_6576074.html\" target=\"_blank\">supplied information<\/a>\u00a0about the anti-terror bill in a controlled media briefing a day before the legislation was announced by the prime minister at a Toronto-area community centre.<\/p>\n<p>Harper was joined by Justice Minister Peter MaKay, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, and associate National Defence Minister Julian Fantino at the Jan. 30 event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been creeping over that line from surveillance to operational for some time,\u201d Champ said. \u201cNow we see it confirmed in legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>With files from The Canadian Press<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read a copy of Bill C-51 here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"View Bill C-51: Tories' Anti-Terrorism Bill on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/254215014\/Bill-C-51-Tories-Anti-Terrorism-Bill\" target=\"_blank\">Bill C-51: Tories&#8217; Anti-Terrorism Bill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Edward Snowden Warns Canadians To Be &#8216;Extraordinarily Cautious&#8217; Over Anti-Terror Bill The Huffington Post Canada \u00a0|\u00a0 By Zi-Ann Lum NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed students at a Toronto private school via video link on Monday to warn about the perils &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=827\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[366,367],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827\/revisions\/828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}