From muzzling watchdog groups to persecuting whistleblowers, from devaluing Indigenous voices to undermining labor unions, from defunding environmental charities to criminalizing peaceful protests, the Canadian government made civil society organizations "Public Enemy #1."
So charges a new report released Tuesday by Voices-Voix, a coalition of 200 organizations and 500 individuals who say Canada's federal government has pursued a deliberate strategy to repress alternative views.
"Together, we feel neither secure nor valued," the signatories write in Dismantling Democracy: Stifling Debate and Dissent in Canada (pdf). "In a culture of pervasive scare tactics and punishment, it can be easy to become paralyzed with fear, to accept the advocacy chill and give way to self-censorship."
This "crude campaign to stifle dissent" has manifested in myriad ways, according to Voices-Voix, which includes Amnesty International Canada, Greenpeace Canada, and the Council of Canadians.
Such concerns have been raised several times before. But Voices-Voix's analysis is perhaps the most comprehensive. Drawing heavily from more than 100 case studies, the report—which journalist Karl Nerenberg, writing at Rabble.ca, said "should be compulsory reading for all Canadian voters before the next election"—documents dozens of examples of such silencing tactics. Full story...
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So charges a new report released Tuesday by Voices-Voix, a coalition of 200 organizations and 500 individuals who say Canada's federal government has pursued a deliberate strategy to repress alternative views.
"Together, we feel neither secure nor valued," the signatories write in Dismantling Democracy: Stifling Debate and Dissent in Canada (pdf). "In a culture of pervasive scare tactics and punishment, it can be easy to become paralyzed with fear, to accept the advocacy chill and give way to self-censorship."
This "crude campaign to stifle dissent" has manifested in myriad ways, according to Voices-Voix, which includes Amnesty International Canada, Greenpeace Canada, and the Council of Canadians.
Such concerns have been raised several times before. But Voices-Voix's analysis is perhaps the most comprehensive. Drawing heavily from more than 100 case studies, the report—which journalist Karl Nerenberg, writing at Rabble.ca, said "should be compulsory reading for all Canadian voters before the next election"—documents dozens of examples of such silencing tactics. Full story...
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