In the United States, warrantless wiretapping has effectively become legalized for now. In Canada on the other hand, a wiretap without court approval is virtually unheard of. This is precisely what happened during a protest.In a dramatic turn of events, it has been revealed that a wiretap was issued on several protestors of the Mohawk tribe in Canada who were protesting poverty. The news story was leaked yesterday on Wikileaks in part because of a media ban on the subject. According to the discussion page prosecutors were trying to ban the entire story from the media, but ultimately failed to do so. From the discussion page: shortly after 5pm, lawyers for the CBC and Mr. Brant appeared before the same Appeals judge, along with Crown counsel. After substantial submissions, the judge lifted her earlier stay and dismissed the stay application altogether, ordering the publication ban lifted once more. Since the media ban has been, at present, lifted, the CBC reported on the incident: The documents include wiretap transcripts that feature Fantino telling Brant in a telephone conversation that "your whole world’s going to come crashing down" and threatening to "do everything I can within your community and everywhere to destroy your reputation" during the tense standoff between police and aboriginal protesters at blockade sites in eastern Ontario. Rosenthal also said the tap on Brant's cellphone was made without obtaining a court order. Rosenthal said while the Criminal Code allows for wiretaps without a court order in extreme situations, there was plenty of notice given about the day of action last year. In short, the law enforcement in charge of keeping the situation calm ordered a wiretap on the protesters without a court order. It's unlikely that the public will treat this aspect lightly because it puts into serious question just how far law enforcement is willing to go. In a country where privacy is of greater concern then in other countries, one might expect some form of outrage at some point in the near future. This isn't the first time Canada had to deal with overreaching surveillance. In 2006, the Canadian Liberal party tabled surveillance legislation that would get internet service providers to essentially spy on their own customers among other things. Back then, the Canadian Bar Association denounced (PDF) the legislation. Ultimately, the legislation died on the order paper. Speculation on the latest wiretapping puts into serious question how often police enforcement will actually put in place a wiretap on someone without court approval. In the United States, when the warrantless wiretapping was deemed unconstitutional, it was, in part, what set the wheels in motion to push surveillance laws in the government which, more recently, passed (though many consumer rights organizations are now suing the government instead of the ISPs at this point in an effort to strike down the law) Whether or not this recent wiretap will spark wiretapping legislation in the government is another story - though it is notable that this is generally what happened in the United States. Either way, it would be far more difficult to get warrantless wiretapping in Canada - though it doesn't make the recent warrantless wiretap any less controversial. To add insult to injury, it doesn't help much when Canadian media outlets were additionally censored as well. |
|
members that voted for this story
|
What would happen if police tapped your phone because you, say, voted for the "wrong" party in the last election?
If there was no wiretap, I wouldn't have reported on the story because it would be irrelevant to me. The police crossed the line when they issued that wiretap in my view. As I mentioned in the article, it makes one seriously wonder how many more wiretaps the police have issued without a warrant. In the United States, you don't need one, in Canada, you still need court oversight IIRC.
Edit: and this wasn't directed at you MR. I just didn't want to see arguments going back and forth about native rights without getting my note in because native rights vs general police corruption is off topic in my view. What's on topic is the wiretap that was issued without court approval plus the fact that there was effort to cover the story up which I find much more frightening personally.
Pfft... Canada does not belong to the Indians.. period. It belongs to ME ALONE!!!
A.H
Milk River, Alberta
The problem with the reserves is that they are not placed to support life, they were originally placed to ERADICATE the native population, despite that they survived, for that they deserve a commendation, however, they don't have to live there anymore, they can move to the city, stop living in poverty, get a job, hell the level of reverse-racisim in Canada they're almost guaranteed a job these days, irregardless of capabilities!
The two reasons why 'this generation' as you put it, is desensitized to their plight is because none of them understand this simple fact 'Why stay there if it's so bad?' they're not kept there at gunpoint, the other reason is that it's been thrown in our face more times than any other generation about the woe-indians, and we're sick and bloody tired of the whole kit and kaboodle.
It's not selfishness, it's just tuning out the whining of a little brother, we've heard it all before enough times that we've stopped caring about it.
Anyways, that's de-railing the topic, sorry Drew...
I guess it's time for me to find out the email to my local representative and write a happy little letter about unauthorized wiretapping.
Thanks for pointing to the forums MR.