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[OPIRG-EVENTS] Activists to Oppose Impending Passage of Bill C-36 in Senate (fwd)



			*MEDIA ADVISORY*


Activists to Oppose Impending Passage of Bill C-36 in Senate

Ottawa  - Monday, December 17th

To mark the occasion of the Senate vote on a controversial piece of
anti-terrorist legislation, opponents in Ottawa will converge on
Parliament Hill at 12:15 p.m. for a one-hour ceremony.

Despite considerable opposition, it is expected that Bill C-36, the last
of three anti-terrorism bills advanced by the federal government,  will
pass in the Senate Monday afternoon and will receive Royal Ascent before
Christmas.  All three bills have already passed in the House.

During the Special Committee of the Senate's second round of hearings,
organization after organization implored the Senate to significantly
modify the Bill and return it to the House of Commons before making it
into law.  A number of Progressive Conservative Senators on the Committee
also proposed amendments to prevent the erosion of liberties, all of which
were defeated by a one vote margin.   One week ago in Edmonton, activists
occupied Minister of Justice Anne McLellan's office to demonstrate their
dissent.

Demonstrators in Ottawa will grieve the assault on the
freedom of all Canadians and to denounce the federal government's
disregard for our democratic values.  Organizers have also planned a spoof
appearance by a well- known holiday celebrity who, under the new
legislation, may indeed qualify as a terrorist.

Critics assert Bill C-36 will create a climate where dissent is not
tolerated, where racialized minorities will live in a climate of
insecurity and where the gradual erosion of our civil liberties and other
human rights will be trivialized.  One of the Liberal government's major
concessions, a sunset clause, only applies to two sections in the Bill.
The Bill, through its modification of the Criminal Code, the Canada
Evidence Act, the National Defence Act, the Access to Information Act, and
the Privacy Act, to name the most obvious, will profoundly alter Canadian
law.

For more information, please contact Nancy Peckford at 231-1116 or
237-1590, ext. 320 or Betty-Anne Daviss at 730-0282.


		"Hope is a passion for the possible."




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