The Council of Canadians has a proud track record of defending the right to protest. We’ve also witnessed what members, supporters, and allies have experienced at the hands of the police while exercising this right.
We have seen intimidation of LNG protesters, surveillance of environmental demonstrators, violence against Indigenous land defenders, and brutality and killings in Black and racialized communities.
We have long expressed that there is a double-standard of police responses to dissent. While far-right groups have been granted a wide berth to disrupt communities, police forces have been quick to shut down Black Lives Matter protests, Land Defenders at Wet’suwet’en, and encampments of unhoused people – to name a few. We fear that double standards are about to become even more stark.
This is not the Canada we want.
To better understand this moment in Canadian history, we turn to allies and leaders in anti-racist research and organizing.
Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar on May 5, where we explored and discussed issues of policing, protest, and the resurgence of the far right.
Featuring panelists:
- Barbara Perry,Researcher of right-wing extremism in Canada; Professor, Ontario Tech University
- El Jones, Professor and researcher at Mount Saint Vincent University; Organizer and activist on police defunding and abolition
- Sleydo'(Molly Wickham), Land Defender,Wet’suwet’en
- Erica Ifill,Ottawa-based economist, columnist, activist
This conversation was moderated by award-winning journalist Anne Lagacé Dowson, a Montreal broadcaster and commentator, and former CBC and BellMedia host. She worked for over 20 years for CBC and Radio-Canada, in Montréal, Ottawa and Toronto as a reporter, researcher, producer, director and host. She has an MA in History and Women’s Studies.
