Press room
Margaret Atwood takes on ‘Fox News North’
...Margaret Atwood is criticizing Stephen Harper over what she sees as his dictatorial approach to regulating the airwaves...
Harper's growing 'black list' a threat to democracy: Critics
..."It's all part of a pattern," said Comartin. "If they can't get their way, they try to bully and intimidate people into remaining silent. It's part of the obsessive, excessive control by the PMO, specifically by Mr. Harper and his immediate entourage. People are told you absolutely must toe the line on everything. That is very, very dangerous for democracy."...
New head of Amnesty International speaks out
by Ingrid Peritz, The Globe & Mail
... "We are increasingly concerned about a real change for the worse in the Canadian government's approach to human rights. Domestically, there have been cutbacks in funding. There has been a shrinking of democratic space and space for dissent. There has been quite a lot of very targeted cutbacks on funding of organizations that have been asking difficult questions." ...
Amnistie internationale: «le Canada nous inquiète»
Par Laura-Julie Perreault, La Presse
«L'espace démocratique au Canada rétrécit de jour en jour. Le gouvernement rend de moins en moins de comptes à la population en matière de droits humains. Nous sommes inquiets.» ...
Les ONG sont les victimes d'intimidation de la part des conservateurs
...La porte-parole du Bloc Québécois en matière de coopération internationale et députée de Laurentides—Labelle, Johanne Deschamps, dénonce la politique de la peur imposée aux ONG par le gouvernement Harper...
Is Stephen Harper set to move against the CRTC?
By Lawrence Martin, The Globe and Mail
Last year, as revealed by The Canadian Press, Prime Minister Stephen Harper lunched in New York with Roger Ailes, president of Fox News, and Rupert Murdoch, who owns it. Kory Teneycke, Mr. Harper’s former spokesman, was also present at the unannounced event. ...
Did Foreign Ministry lobby stop Canadian funding of Israeli Arab group?
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz
... "If it becomes clear that the Israeli government pressured the IDRC through the Canadian government, this will be a real scandal," said Rouhana. ...
Gun registry advocate latest in Tory pattern of quashing dissent, critics say
By Jane Taber, The Globe & Mail
The senior Mountie in charge of the controversial long-gun registry is being replaced on the eve of a vote about its future, the RCMP has confirmed. Both Liberals and New Democrats are accusing the Conservative government of trying to silence dissent as a result since the officer is strong proponent of the costly program. ...
So Much for Democracy
by Silver Donald Cameron, The Chronicle Herald
... I am not saying that Stephen Harper is another Hitler, even in embryo. But as I watch his masterful and ruthless manipulation of his situation as a minority prime minister, I am certainly struck by his "blend of political acuity, deceptiveness and cunning." ...
Ottawa a refusé de financer une conférence d'Alternatives
La Presse Canadienne
Ottawa — Le gouvernement fédéral a fait fi des recommandations de ses fonctionnaires et refusé de financer une conférence sur le Proche-Orient organisée par Alternatives, indiquent des documents internes. ...
PSAC calls on Oda to reinstate CCIC funding
... On July 22, 2010, you announced that the next step in Canada's aid effectiveness would be to implement "a new approach to engage Canadians and organizations involved in International development". Why then would you cut CCIC's funding at such a critical time? This appears to be an ill-fated attempt to silence Civil Society and the NGO community. ...
Arab-Israeli group takes Canadian agency to court over terminated funding
by Patrick Martin in The Globe and Mail
International Development Research Centre is alleged to have cancelled grants under pressure from Israel.
An Arab-Israeli research group is taking the International Development Research Centre to court, alleging the Canadian Crown corporation cut off funding to the group under pressure from the Israeli government.
Une coalition accuse les conservateurs d'attaquer les droits et la démocratie
Pierre Saint-Arnaud, La Presse Canadienne
Le gouvernement de Stephen Harper est devenu un frein à l'avancement des droits au Canada comme au niveau international et représente une menace à la démocratie. ...
Canada: Israel's new defender, Muted support for Palestine, funding cuts for Arab groups, now a ban on the phrase 'Israeli apartheid': what's going on in Canada?
by Jesse Rosenfeld on Guardian.co.uk
At a time when many countries are becoming more critical of Israel's policies, Canada seems to be moving in the opposite direction. A general reluctance to engage in open debate about the Palestinian issue is exacerbated by pro-Israel groups' efforts to shut down discussion and the federal government's unprecedented penchant for defending Israeli actions.
Committee's Rights and Democracy report arrives...
by Karina Roman on CBC news politics
The Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on Rights and Democracy.
Canada's new focus on front-line service delivery in development assistance misses a big part of the problem.
by Betty Plewes, The Mark
Former President and CEO of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation; member of the McLeod Group.
Canada isn’t a big player on the global stage in terms of economic and financial resources. We don’t have military might, we don’t have much political clout, and at $5.2 billion – only .3 per cent of the country’s GNI – our aid budget is a drop in the bucket. In the past we have leveraged our rather meagre resources into a solid international role through creative ideas, skilled diplomacy, support for multilateral institutions, and a commitment to the principles of human rights and international justice.
L'information sous Stephen Harper - De la transparence à la propagande
par un collectif d'auteurs dans le Devoir
Il y a quelques semaines, plusieurs journalistes ont souri d'un air entendu en lisant l'entrée Twitter de Jennifer Ditchburn, journaliste à la Presse canadienne. «Mon fou rire du vendredi: un porte-parole m'écrit un courriel off the record pour me dire qu'il ne peut pas répondre à ma question.»
Les journalistes ont ri... jaune. Ce qui n'était au départ qu'un irritant mineur pour les correspondants parlementaires basés à Ottawa est devenu une véritable menace au droit du public à l'information. La plupart des Canadiens ont entendu parler des documents censurés dans le dossier du traitement des prisonniers afghans ou encore du débat entourant les allocations de dépenses secrètes des députés, mais le problème est encore plus profond.
Libre opinion- Un Conseil menacé
Par Brian Barton, dans Le Devoir
Président de l'Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale
Un climat d'incertitude plane présentement sur l'ensemble de la société civile du Québec et du Canada. Après les groupes de femmes et des organisations de coopération internationale réputées comme KAIROS et Match international, c'est désormais au Conseil canadien pour la coopération internationale (CCCI) de craindre que tout son financement ne lui soit retiré par l'Agence canadienne de développement international (ACDI). Le CCCI regroupe une centaine d'organisations de coopération internationale réparties à travers le Canada. Il y a deux mois, on lui a annoncé que ses activités étaient réévaluées et que son financement serait prolongé temporairement pour 3 mois.
Cutting out the development NGO 'heart' The consensus is that going after CCIC confirms the Harper government's plan to remake the sector.
By Lee Berthiaume in Embassy
On the table in Gerry Barr's office is a plaque with red background and words in white: "Keep Calm and Carry On." In many ways, the normally unflappable Mr. Barr exemplifies that ethos. This quality has well-served the organization he heads, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, and the 100 Canadian development and humanitarian NGOs it represents.
Deathbed reprieve for killer industry? Ottawa and Quebec City appear poised to bail out asbestos producers
By Kathleen Ruff on The Star
The battle to end Canada's export of deadly asbestos may be about to be lost.
Economically, the industry is on its deathbed. The last two asbestos mines (the Jeffrey mine and the Black Lake mine in Quebec) are both under bankruptcy protection, have almost exhausted their asbestos deposits, have slashed the wages of remaining workers and seen sales plummet by 50 per cent in the last decade. But the industry is counting on Premier Jean Charest and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to rescue it.
Message Event Proposals: A Tory obsession
By Mike Blanchfield And Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - An MP's Sunday afternoon visit to a seniors' home. The federal purchase of powerful new military aircraft. A journalism student's innocuous query about Africa.
The Harper government, women’s rights and the cost of speaking out
by Gerald Caplan in The Globe and Mail
The Tories are playing punishment politics with Canada’s progressive NGOs – and eroding civil society in the process
Are you old-fashioned? Do you still believe in gender equality? Do you intend to promote gender equality? Do you believe a woman should be able to have an abortion if she chooses to?
Liberals denounce more Conservative cuts to international aid organizations
on Newsroom, Libéral Party of Canada
Ottawa – A chill is once again spreading through international aid organizations as the Harper government is threatening to cut funding to the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), one of Canada’s pre-eminent coalitions to end global poverty, Liberal MPs said today.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
OTTAWA - The Harper government is brushing aside accusations it's playing politics by withholding cash to the major umbrella group of Canadian aid agencies.
By Adrian Wyld in The Canadien Press
The Canadian Council for International Co-operation said it would lay off staff and put its offices in downtown Ottawa up for sale because it has had no response from the government since delivering its latest funding proposal last fall.
Several other aid agencies are also in limbo awaiting word on their financial futures from the Canadian International Development Agency
Un autre cas d'outrage se profile à Ottawa
par Hélène Buzzetti dans Le Devoir
L'opposition accuse les conservateurs d'imposer la loi du silence à tout l'appareil fédéral
VOICES Legal Action Committee Call for Participation
by Charis Kamphuis
Dear Voices listserve members,
The following is a call for expressions of interest in the Voices Legal Action Committee. Please circulate to those who may be interested.
Comment la droite s'organise
par Alec Castonguay dans le Devoir
Avortement, registre des armes à feu, compressions dans les festivals gais, reconnaissance de la nation québécoise... Stephen Harper a fait de la controverse son arme de prédilection, maniant l'art de la division avec la précision d'un chirurgien. Une stratégie risquée importée des États-Unis et de l'Australie qui pourrait procurer de nouveaux appuis cruciaux aux conservateurs.
CIDA and the Money Doublers
Embrassy
By Ian Smillie
Maternal and child health is already high on the agenda of most donor countries. These two items are pillars of the UN's Millennium Development Goals, and maternal health has been a priority for many countries for years. But not Canada. It would appear that Canada has simply woken up to a need that has been out there for as long as CIDA has existed.
Abortion: Don't ask, don't tell
by Leslie Scrivener
in Toronto Star
Canadian aid agencies that offer health care to women in the developing world have no problem describing the condoms they distribute and education they provide as part of a family-planning program.
But ask if abortion services are included in their health-care repertoire, they clam up. It's a matter of don't ask, don't tell.
“There's a lot that's unspoken,” says a program manager with years of experience in several development organizations. “We have an extremely sympathetic officer who knows the realities in the field. It's not a subject I've raised. You dare not talk about it.”
Former staff file suit against rights group
By Graeme Hamilton, The National Post
Three senior managers fired last March by the federally funded agency Rights and Democracy filed suit yesterday for a combined $1.4-million in damages, claiming they were victims of a political purge.
Liberals circulate 'interesting' government funding list
By Karina Roman, CBC.ca
A list of groups that the Conservatives have cut, compared to a list of groups who are now getting the taxpayer's dollars.
Iteresting indeed...
Un juif se vide le coeur
Dans l'Actualité par Luc Chartrand
Atteinte à la réputation, culpabilité par association, utilisation sélective des faits : les techniques du gouvernement Harper pour museler les critiques d’Israël rappellent les pires heures du maccarthysme aux États-Unis. Et c’est un ex-dirigeant de l’organisme juif B’nai Brith qui le dit !
Aid groups advised to ‘shut the f--- up’ on abortion
By Susan Delacourt, The Star (Ottawa)
Aid experts alarmed by Canada’s new anti-abortion stand in foreign policy have received some raw political advice from a Conservative senator: “shut the f--- up” or it could get worse. ...
Le Canada sous influence - Le poids du lobby pro-Israël à Ottawa
Par Luc Chartrand et Yanic Lapointe, Radio-Canada
La plupart des observateurs s'entendent pour dire qu'un virage majeur a été opéré dans la politique extérieure du Canada depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir de Stephen Harper, en particulier dans les dossiers concernant Israël et le Moyen-Orient. En fait, jamais l'influence du lobby pro-Israël n'a été aussi grande.
Regardez le reportage de Luc Chartrand et Yanic Lapointe.
Appel à la défense des droits et libertés
par Diane Lamoureux, Lorraine Guay, Fabienne Preséntey
Une série d’événements récents, tous liés aux positions inconditionnellement pro-gouvernement israélien du gouvernement Harper, nous interpelle en tant que citoyens et citoyennes. D’abord les coupures injustifiées à des organismes de coopération internationale et de défense des droits humains tels Kaïros et Alternatives de même qu’à la Fédération canado-arabe ; puis la crise actuelle à Droits et Démocratie provoquée par des nominations hautement partisanes de la part du gouvernement ; enfin l’annonce d’une motion du député conservateur T. Uppal invitant la Chambre des Communes à déclarer le Canada inconditionnellement « ami d’Israël », à assimiler à de l’antisémitisme tout lien entre les politiques du gouvernement d’Israël et l’apartheid, ceci afin de condamner (et si possible de faire interdire) la Semaine contre l’apartheid israélien qui se déroule présentement sur les campus étudiants au Canada et partout à travers le monde. ...
Droits et Démocratie doit respecter les politiques d'Ottawa, dit Cannon
par Lina Dib, La Presse Canadienne
... En 2006, M. Latulippe a écrit, dans un mémoire soumis à la Commission Bouchard-Taylor sur les pratiques d'accommodements, que le Québec reçoit trop d'immigrants provenant de pays musulmans. Et M. Latulippe a fait un lien entre cette immigration, trop nombreuse d'après lui, et l'émergence d'un terrorisme «made in Québec». ...
Colère à Environnement Canada
par François Cardinal, La Presse
Dans l'optique de contrôler davantage le message public, le gouvernement Harper a implanté un «protocole de relations avec les médias» sans précédent dans le domaine climatique: il interdit aux scientifiques de l'environnement de répondre directement aux questions des journalistes, comme ils le font depuis plusieurs décennies, a appris La Presse. ... «L'imposition de contraintes aussi sévères à des scientifiques va à l'encontre des principes mêmes d'une société démocratique»...
Grossière ingérence: coupures à KAIROS et Alternatives
... L’automne dernier, l’agence a demandé à Alternatives de retirer de sa demande de financement un partenariat vieux de quinze ans avec le Teachers Creativity Center, un organisme voué à l’éducation en Palestine, car il présentait «un risque d’échec élevé». L’ONG l’a fait à contre-cœur. ...
Why I resigned from Rights & Democracy
by Sima Samar, Special to The Ottawa Citizen
... When these board members claim the dispute "is not about the Middle-East" they should remember it was they who transformed a minor issue we considered resolved into a major controversy to justify their cause. ...
Ottawa blâmé [par la Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme]
Radio-Canada
... « La crédibilité du Canada est en jeu », conclut la FIDH [Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme]. Au début du mois, une cinquantaine d'organisations non gouvernementales israéliennes, palestiniennes, américaines et européennes avaient elles aussi déploré, dans une lettre ouverte, la révocation de subventions à ces organismes de défense des droits des Palestiniens. ...
La défense des droits humains : de moins en moins de place pour la contestation
par Amnistie Internationale, Canada
... Plus récemment, des organisations dont les programmes appuient des groupes de protection des droits des Palestiniens ou qui financent ces derniers ont vu leur financement amputé, par exemple, KAIROS et Alternatives, ou encore ont dû affronter des querelles internes causées par des membres nommés au conseil d'administration par le gouvernement, comme ce fut le cas chez Droits et Démocratie. Il semble de plus en plus évident que cette situation résulte du fait que ces organisations ne se conforment pas à la position du gouvernement par rapport au conflit israélo-palestinien et à sa réticence vis-à-vis des critiques visant le bilan d'Israël en matière de droits humains. ...
Des ONG sous surveillance!
par Agnès Gruda, La Presse
Un climat de peur plane sur l'aide humanitaire. Le critique libéral de l'ACDI, Glen Pearson, affirme avoir été approché par six organismes qui craignent de perdre leur financement: «S'ils n'ont pas de réponse d'ici la fin mars, ils devront réduire leurs activités.»
Canada's neoconservative turn
... The culmination of six decades of one-sided support, and four years into the government of Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Canada is (at least diplomatically) the most pro-Israel country in the world. ...
"An attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada."
- Peter Kent, Junior Foreign minister, 12 February 2010
Pulling the threads
by Maroussia Lévèsque, Elaborate.ca
... an alarming contempt for public institutions, civil servants, and, ultimately, democracy. The Harper government has taken a series of decisions that undermine the strength of our public institutions. ...
The new McCarthyism in Israel - Human rights groups face crackdown
by Jonathan Cook, The Atlantic Free Press
The Israeli government and its right-wing supporters have been waging a “McCarthyite” campaign against human-rights groups by blaming them for the barrage of international criticism that has followed Israel’s attack on Gaza a year ago, critics say. ... Leading the charge against human-rights groups -- most of which are officially described as “non-governmental organisations” -- has been a self-styled “watchdog group” known as NGO Monitor.
Line in the advocacy sand being drawn for NGOs
DEVELOPMENT GROUPS SAY THEY ARE BEING FORCED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN PRINCIPLES AND FUNDING
by Anca Gurzu, Embassy Magazine
Standing metres away from the room where he'd just addressed the all-party coalition to combat anti-Semitism, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was surrounded by reporters clamouring for answers.
Two months earlier, Kairos had learned CIDA was cutting its funding. Initially the government said it was because the ecumenical development and advocacy NGO didn't fit the aid agency's priorities.
Then in a speech to an anti-Semitism...
Conservative motivations laid bare
by James Travers, The Star
Conservatives are out of their particular closet. Not since ripping into social and legal activists during a first year in power has the party so aggressively, or openly, imposed its ideology. ...
What to Do about Taxpayer Funding of NGOs
Written by Joseph C. Ben-Ami on Canadian Centre for Policy Studies
David Murrell’s paper exposing how taxpayer money is being directed by government bureaucrats toward advocacy groups that then lobby the government for – you guessed it – more taxpayer money, is creating quite a stir. (You can read his article by clicking here.) I have been flooded with emails asking how, after four years in power, a conservative government could have failed to deal with this. I wish I had a good answer.
Rights and Democracy: The witness has rights
by Paul Wells, Macleans Magazine
... “We, too, have concerns about the management of M. Jacques Gauthier,” they write, citing “a lack of transparency regarding spending practices and a lack of respect for the rules and procedures of the Centre.” Since he replaced Beauregard at the end of January, they write, Gauthier has: ...
Silence only safe policy for aid groups
by Carol Goar, The Toronto Star
...aid organizations that speak out on public issues say they have received warnings that their funding is in jeopardy. Stories of unsettling conversations with federal officials are spreading through the aid community. The only safe policy seems to be silence...