By Steffanie Pinch - November 14, 2012

Bill C-309 is the latest attempt by the Harper Government to strangle dissent...Put forward by Alberta Wildrose backbencher MP Blake Richards, the Bill is an amendment to the Criminal Code. Specifically, it makes it illegal to wear a mask at an "unlawful" protest, a crime now punishable with a decade-long jail sentence.

By Syed Hussan and Nate Prier - Briarpatch Magazine

Every year about 300,000 people enter the Canadian labour market as temporary migrant workers, more than the 230,000 who enter as permanent residents on their way to acquiring full rights as citizens...By being categorized as migrant workers by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, these hundreds of thousands of people are denied basic rights that citizens often take for granted.

By Dana Gabriel

Under the guise of cybersecurity, the U.S. and Canada have been individually pushing draconian legislation domestically which would grant government agencies sweeping new powers. The implications would be far reaching and pose a risk to privacy and civil liberties. Through the Beyond the Border initiative both countries are pursuing an integrated cybersecurity agenda. As they move forward and address common threats to North America, cyber and perimeter security will be further defined and dominated by U.S. interests.

By Peter Goffin - November 9, 2012

Remembrance Day in Canada has always cast a jingoistic sort of shadow. "In Flanders Fields," with its message, "Take up our quarrel with the foe," is practically a recruitment poster. But, since the beginning of his tenure as PM, Harper has made a concerted effort to turn Remembrance Day into a celebration of military exploits rather than a commemoration of loss and sacrifice.

By Matt Moir - rabble.ca

As a professional educator...I feel it is my responsibility to emphasize the social and human costs of war as least as much as the dates of pivotal battles and the names of important Generals...That does not mean, though, that I...am downplaying the importance of the Canadian military's role in the shaping of our country...What I reject...is the clumsy attempt by schools to honour fallen soldiers that often amounts to little more than the glorification of the Canadian military.

By Tim Groves - Toronto Media Co-op

On November 8 criminal charges were dropped against a blogger who wrote about an undercover police officer who had befriended him as part of a police operation to spy on activists ahead of the 2010 G20 Summit...[O]n August 25, 2011, [Dan] Kellar was arrested and charged with with counseling to commit assault and two counts of criminal defamation. The defamation charges were later withdrawn, but new charges of criminal harassment and intimidation were laid.

By Nora Loreto - November 10, 2012

...[A]s the Canadian government has demonstrated its support for foreign wars, the symbol of the poppy has been hijacked. While it remains a symbol of peace and remembrance for many, it has also become a symbol of support of Canada's current war ambitions...When I see billions of dollars spent on fighter jets, the same amount of money that could eliminate tuition fees for all...students, I question what exactly we are remembering.

November 9, 2012 - rabble.ca

For a long time now, there has been a serious weakness on the part of progressive movements in the most over-developed countries of the world. The ability to recognize that so much of the privileges we enjoy, but that governments and corporations enjoy even more so, comes from years of exploitation, subjugation and extreme levels of violence towards countries of the Global South...In The Ugly Canadian, Yves Engler sets out to provide "a small spark in lighting a fire of interest in Canadian foreign policy."

By Krystalline Kraus - rabble.ca

According to No One Is Illegal, "It is well-known across Canada that Jason Kenney - Minister of Censorship and Deportation - is a key player in advancing the Harper government’s austerity and policing agenda. Their agenda is transparent and their racist, xenophobic, neo-liberal policy agenda is clear.["]

By Krystalline Kraus - rabble.ca

Bill C-309...has a "lower burden of proof" [than existing laws] with just intention to commit an illegal act. The new bill...would allow the courts to convict -- as an indictable offence -- anyone wearing a mask who has attended a "tumultuous" demonstration even if they have been pre-emptively arrested without any evidence of conspiracy or illegal act.

By Lynn Gehl Gii-Zhigaate-Mnidoo-Kwe - November 7, 2012

Over time, it has become obvious to me that the justice system in Canada is not a place where Indigenous people will achieve justice, nor the protection of the treaty rights that Indian status registration provides. Rather, Canada’s legal system is a tool of the oppressor...I know today, with its intentionally constructed layers of structural oppression, Canada is without a doubt a hostile place for Indigenous people. I hope others...learn from my process.

By Tim Groves - Toronto Media Co-op

The Canadian government has been confidentially briefing major energy companies with classified intelligence, leading groups protesting the oil sands and other energy projects to fear they’re being spied on by federal agents for the benefit of private corporations.

By Karl Nerenberg - November 3, 2012

Canada's Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, is a master at the game of turning complex policy issues into nasty bumper stickers...We have not had any government, of any stripe, in recent memory...that has chosen to adopt such a negative rhetorical tone on immigration...Rather than cloak his legislative initiatives in the garb of pragmatic necessity, Kenney likes to up the ante with harsh, confrontational and punitive language.

October 31, 2012 - CBC News

Videos of teenager Ashley Smith taken in the months before she died in a prison cell show the teen was subjected to “degrading and dehumanizing” treatment, her family’s lawyer told a coroner’s hearing in Toronto Wednesday..."To people who think this can't happen in Canada to a mentally ill 19-year-old, you know a picture speaks a thousand words. I'm embarrassed to be Canadian when I look at that video..."

By Syed Hussan - October 31, 2012

There seems to be this idea in many circles...that racism is somehow about rudeness or visual markers...Personally...I don’t care so much if someone calls me names, or makes fun of my accent...[F]or me, it’s when I and so many other people like me can’t get a job, can’t rent a house, can’t travel, or can’t get healthcare that I get angry. When racism has a material impact, I get furious.