| HOME | ABOUT US | CAMPAIGNS | MEDIA | PUBLICATIONS | CHAPTERS | JOIN US | FRANÇAIS |
|
Unlikely Bedfellows: Right-wing U.S. groups oppose deep integration – for the wrong reasons
At first glance, their analysis seems perfectly reasonable: “Government bureaucrats and business leaders are “harmonizing and integrating” our laws with Mexico and Canada on a broad range of issues such as e-commerce, transportation, environment, health, agriculture, financial services and national security, just to mention a few.” The statement is taken from a new website about the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). If you scroll down the page, you find out that the website is sponsored by the Minutemen, a U.S. group that mobilizes civilians (sometimes armed) to patrol the U.S. border. While the organization claims not to be a racist vigilante group, its supporters consistently refer to migrant workers as “illegal aliens,” and have expressed a desire to “lock down the border.” In the U.S., several groups are fighting to have the SPP overturned – but for entirely the wrong reasons. They’ve even helped convince a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a motion calling on the U.S. to withdraw from the partnership. But their concerns aren’t with protecting the environment or ensuring better health and safety standards or even protecting citizens from wrongful arrest under the kind of U.S. security measures that led Maher Arar to be incarcerated and tortured in Syria. They’re about stopping Mexican immigrants and Canadian “socialism” from encroaching on their territory. Innocuous yet dangerous Other right-wing opponents of the SPP seem a little less extreme, but their ideas are no less dangerous. A group called Judicial Watch in the U.S. has been using freedom of information requests to access U.S. Department of Commerce documents relating to the SPP. These documents have been very helpful to us at the Council of Canadians, as they have given us a window into the secret proceedings of the SPP and the North American Competitiveness Council. But like the Minutemen, the points made by Judicial Watch are not ours. The organization is rabidly anti-choice and anti-gay. They seem to have a particular obsession with Hillary Clinton, painting her as a radical Communist sympathizer. Though Judicial Watch’s tone is a little more measured than the Minutemen, the majority of the organization’s litigation has focused on limiting or stopping immigration. Judicial Watch is now in court against the Los Angeles Police Department over a policy that prevents police officers from demanding to know an individual’s immigration status when arresting them for unrelated offences. Now, it would be one thing if these organizations existed in isolation. But they are starting to creep into Canada, and are actively seeking partnerships with organizations like the Council of Canadians. In December, an organization called Let Freedom Ring America contacted the Council, asking us to join them in their campaign to “close and secure our borders.” While we might share certain concerns with some of these right-wing groups, such as a lack of government accountability and transparency, our argument against continental integration stands in marked contrast to their views. Take immigration, for example. At the Council, we are concerned that a harmonized refugee policy with the United States would mean that fewer people with legitimate claims would be able to immigrate from other countries. The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) has already observed a marked reduction in the number of refugee claims that have been accepted since the implementation of the Safe Third Country Agreement. The agreement, which came into force in December 2004, designates the U.S. as a “safe country” for refugee claimants arriving at Canada’s border with the U.S. This means that, with only some exceptions, they are not allowed to claim refugee status in Canada – even if they were only intending to cross the border in an effort to make it to Canada. Since 1989, Canada has received an average of 29,680 refugee claims per year. In 2005 – the first year that the Safe Third Country Agreement was in effect – only 19,735 people made refugee claims, and the drop at the land border was even more dramatic, according to the CCR, “with numbers only at 51 per cent of what they were in 2004.” But this doesn’t mean that there are fewer refugees fleeing persecution and seeking a better life in Canada. It means that by integrating our immigration policy with the U.S., Canada has effectively closed its doors to people who would have otherwise qualified for asylum. Migration is a symptom Unlike such groups as Judicial Watch, the Council of Canadians sees the astounding influx of undocumented Mexican workers into the U.S. as a sign that free trade is failing the Mexican people. And we fear that further economic harmonization under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America will only make it more difficult for Mexicans to earn a decent living and stay in their chosen communities with their families. Progressive opponents of the SPP certainly don’t want to “lock down” Canada’s border with the United States. We want to avoid integrating Canada’s policies with more questionable U.S. standards, and instead work with partners in the U.S. and Mexico to promote the highest possible quality of life for people all over North America – and this means championing fair trade, clean water and universal public health care. Maude Barlow sums it up best in the last chapter of her book Too Close for Comfort: Canada’s Future within Fortress North America: “this is not a call to put up borders around Canada. Nor is it an announcement of presumed moral superiority with respect to our neighbours. . . . Canada must decide if it is going to forge deeper economic, foreign policy, social, and resource ties with the world’s superpower under its most aggressive government in modern history, or if it is going to stand with moderate countries and people around the world to form a counterweight.” For more information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), click here. Ariel Troster is the Publications Officer at The Council of Canadians, and the Editor of Canadian Perspectives.
Read more about the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) on our website. Email inquiries@canadians.org or call us at 1-800-387-7177, for more information. Printer-friendly version: |
|||||
In this issue
For more information or to subscribe, contact us at 1-800-387-7177, or inquiries@canadians.org. |
||||||
 |
updated
March 7, 2007
|
|||||
by Ariel Troster
