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FIGHT BACK

TOnslaught of tyranny

by Jeff Goodall

August 4, 2003

I took out Canadian citizenship in 1995, not quite 30 years after arriving here. As a British subject I had enjoyed full franchise, but over the years, first my federal, and then my provincial and municipal voting rights, had been removed. However, that was not the reason for my belated decision to become a citizen. I was motivated by a fear of the increasing political intolerance in Canada, and the vicious attacks against free speech and freedom of conscience being waged by seemingly untouchable "human rights commissions" and the forces of "political correctness". I wanted protection against deportation, in the event that my instincts for freedom and natural justice should put me on a collision course with the government.

Matters have deteriorated considerably since 1995. Businesses and individuals have been fined, and ordered to provide goods and services to gay and other organizations, contrary to their beliefs and wishes. Mayors have been ordered to proclaim "Gay Pride" weeks, and some have left politics because of it. Police forces now have "hate crime units" that enforce thought control and seek to bully those whose views and opinions do not fit the required political criteria. The police chief of London, Ontario, actually summoned persons distributing leaflets to appear before him. A lawyer’s letter quickly put a stop to that, but the fact is that the police have now become "human rights" enforcers, and smart officers know what to do in order to get ahead. A "bureaucratic momentum" has been established, and we are now regularly bombarded with statistical reports on alleged "hate crimes," even though charges and actual convictions are few and far between.

Governments and large business organizations now have enforcers embedded in their human resources departments, eager to soothe the ruffled feathers of any member of a minority group who feels themselves to be the slightest bit aggrieved, and both managers and politicians eagerly carry out their bidding for fear of limiting their careers, or even having them ended. While with the City of Toronto, I was actually told by one such commissar that even though I was unaware that I was being overheard while on the telephone, I was "still guilty of racial harassment." How utterly ridiculous! Intent is irrelevant, and the truth is not allowed as a defence against such allegations.

I have had the experience of being interviewed for UIC job training assistance, and having to fill out a form to claim any entitlement to preferential treatment. If one cannot "self-identify" as a member of any of the approved groups, then one has by default "self-identified" as being of European origin, and thus a valid target for discrimination and second-rate service. Federal Ministries have "Outreach" programs that actually go looking for the disabled etc., to offer them jobs.

It is quite common for federal job advertisements to specify that only aboriginals need apply. And, a recent arrival to Canada who meets the required racial, or other, criteria will be given preference in hiring and promotion over a job-seeker from, say, the Maritimes, whose family may have been in North America for 500 years.

An aboriginal woman I met at lunch some years ago with a mutual friend, perhaps expecting me to be sympathetic as I was a member of the CUPE Local 79 Executive Board at the time, told me that "no aboriginals should be laid off by the city until all the white people have been laid off first". When I indicated my strong disapproval of that notion, she was very seriously put out. I never saw her again, and was later told that she "didn’t feel comfortable" around me. When it reaches the point that people have been led to actually believe such stupidities, then things are becoming very serious indeed.

In that vein, it was reported in the media late last month that British Columbia Provincial Court Judge William Kitchen had set aside charges of illegal fishing against 140 non-aboriginal fishermen, saying that native-only fisheries contravene the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and are "illogical and racially discriminatory". He additionally described the fisheries program as constituting "government-sponsored racism." The President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Stewart Phillip, predictably described the ruling as "disturbing and offensive," and threatened a "free-for-all" on the water this summer. My guess is that this eminently reasonable and sensible ruling will not be allowed to live too long

Getting back to my reasons for becoming a citizen, I was quite surprised to read recently that consideration is still being given to a proposal to allow naturalized Canadians to be stripped of their citizenship by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, without any recourse to the courts being allowed.

Dear God, what kind of a country are we living in?

Jeff Goodall worked for the Metro Treasury and City Finance Departments for 25 years, and served as a member of the CUPE Local 79 Executive Board for 14 of those years.