Global Courant 2023-04-19 12:11:18
The Canadian government is currently consulting citizens about creating one Transparency register foreign influences. The registry, which may be established soon, could require Canadians to declare their relationships with “foreign clients,” a category that includes foreign governments, companies, organizations, groups and individuals.
Political pressure on the government to take swift action is mounting. Federal opposition leader Pierre Poilièvre has demanded that the ruling liberals fixed date for the launch of the registry. Some advocacy groups in Canada are demanding it go into effect before the next one federal election while the media produces disturbing headlines about China.
We Canadians are rightly concerned about foreign interference in our democracy. Nevertheless, given our history, we should be very wary of policies that do not affect the foreign governments we have conflicts with, but rather the civil rights of people here in Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged what he is Canada’s”difficult historical experiencesand cited the internment of Japanese and Italian Canadians as a cause for caution.
Nevertheless, information distributed by the Ministry of Public Security suggests that if a register is created, Canadians who defend views deemed favorable to foreign interests could be fined or imprisoned, even in cases where they received no payment or benefit for expressing those views.
People accused of wanting to express such views can also be punished, even if they have not already done so.
Given the current political and media expressions about alleged Chinese interference in Canada, it seems clear that not all foreign liaisons would do equally well under such a policy. A Canadian dining at the French embassy would imply one thing, while at the Chinese embassy it would imply something completely different.
These are really countries with which Canada is in conflict. What is proposed is a register of enemy agents.
This is dangerous territory.
Past mistakes
The proposed registry rings alarm bells for me, given my research over the past decade into the uprooting, internment, dispossession, and exile of Japanese-Canadians in the 1940s. I think it should do the same for all Canadians.
In 1941, three quarters of people of Japanese descent in Canada were British subjects of Canada, citizens under the law of the time. Months before Japan attacked Allied bases in the Pacific, officials created a registry of Japanese-Canadians. Secretly, security personnel began compiling lists of those suspected of promoting enemy interests.
Japanese-Canadians surround a police officer at an internment yard in British Columbia’s Slocan Valley in the 1940s. Photo: Library and Archives Canada
Once Canada and Japan were at war, Japanese-Canadians suffered through a cascade of injustice. They were driven from their homes and then everything they were forced to leave behind was confiscated and sold by the government. Selling the homes, businesses, and personal belongings of Japanese-Canadians made no one safer.
When the war ended in 1945, Canadian officials still refused to allow them to return to their former communities. Instead of, nearly 4,000 people were sent to Japanand the rest were denied civil rights until 1949.
These decisions reflected a history of racism that existed long before the war. But injustice also resulted from government officials improvising policies to address issues they believed were thrust upon them.
In reality, the challenges they faced were often government-created. When all Japanese-Canadians were expelled from the coast of British Columbia, officials were given the responsibility of storing and caring for their property.
This task was difficult. Auctions and sales were much easier. So forced sale the solution to an administrative problem was brought about by mass displacement, especially when the property owners were considered by many to be second-class citizens.
As the war drew to a close, officials considered mass expulsions to Japan, many of them believing that people of Japanese descent could never be truly Canadian. At the same time, they felt they were solving the administrative challenge of finding a place for internees whose homes had been sold.
Registration facilitated uprooting and internment. Relocation made expropriation possible. Expulsion came next.
Policy follows paths. One decision sets a course for others, and injustices may emerge in unforeseen ways (or at least not widely recognized or endorsed) at first.
Future Choices
Today, most people in Canada are of Chinese descent citizens of this country. Even proponents of a registry of foreign agents, such as the former Canadian ambassador to China David Mulroneyrecognizing that we cannot have a serious discussion about registering agents of Chinese interference without also considering the implications for Chinese-Canadians.
Proponents argue that the registry is not inherently racist in any way and it would be Protect Chinese-Canadians. But the conditions put forward in the public consultation on the policy are vague and extensive. The net that is cast is frighteningly wide.
Given its size, it is impossible for the government to imagine that every point of contact between a Canadian and a “foreign client” will be recorded. The Registry, like the 1940s policy, will create even more problems that administrators will have to fix.
New policies and regulations can affect civil society organizations with ties in countries with which we are in conflict, companies with partnerships abroad, travelers, students, journalists and academics. A register of enemy agents would place Canada on a new path to an uncertain destination.
Canadians answer the government’s call for feedback must weigh their answers carefully. If we have learned from our history – from the intersection of conflict, security, migration and racism in Canada’s past – we need to be cautious and moderate.
Will Canada really be safer with this register of enemy agents? What future damage remains unforeseen? Who will endure them?
This article has been republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Similar:
Loading…
