ACTION ALERT: Sign the petition against a perimeter security deal with the U.S.

June 8, 2011

The Government of Canada’s e-consultation on the proposed Canada-U.S. security perimeter expired on Friday, June 3. Though it was a sham process that only sought business input, we thank everyone who used the form to protest the lack of transparency and real consultation in the bilateral perimeter discussions.

According to the Harper government plan, A Beyond the Border working group will now go through the online submissions over the next few weeks and make recommendations on what a perimeter deal should and should not address. There will be no other opportunity for people to express their views until the plan is made public at the end of the summer.

Sign the petition

In the meantime, the Facebook group Canadians Against the Perimeter Security Agreement is soliciting signatures to a petition you can find online here.

The petition, addressed to the Government of Canada, reads:

The secrecy surrounding these negotiations, the incremental, executive-level approach to making these changes to our country's trade and, far more importantly, its security laws, as well as your government's refusal to let Canadians know exactly what is involved, is of immense concern to us… We believe the Perimeter Security Agreement will have extraordinarily serious and weighty consequences for Canada’s social, economic and political sovereignty. In addition, many legislative components are possibly in violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly information sharing… we strongly recommend that your government provide Canadians with all the information they require, in order to fully assess the many serious implications of the Perimeter Security Agreement, before proceeding any further.

For more information on perimeter security and the Beyond the Border Action Plan, please visit: www.canadians.org/perimeter-security.

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