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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject: Anti-Olympic signs could mean jail: rights group |
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A proposed B.C. law would allow municipal officials to enter homes to seize unauthorized and possibly anti-Olympic signs on short notice, civil libertarians say.
Violators could be fined up to $10,000 a day and jailed up to six months, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Friday.
The proposed law was introduced Thursday as a bill to amend the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act.
The government said in a statement that the changes will "provide the municipalities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler with temporary enforcement powers to enable them to swiftly remove illegal signs and graffiti during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."
"The legislation does not change the existing scope of authority to regulate signs and graffiti. Rather, it provides, on a temporary basis, a faster way of removing signs and graffiti that violate municipal bylaws during the short period the Games are underway."
Bill Bennett, the minister of community and rural development, said that given the short duration of the Olympics, the cities of Richmond, Whistler, and Vancouver must be able to enforce their own bylaws quickly.
"That to me seems like a reasonable thing to do when you've got the Olympic games lasting 20-odd days," Bennett said.
"You've got the potential for some businesses to try and exploit the games logo without having paid for the rights to do that. I think its a reasonable thing for communities to want to remove those kinds of signs, and to remove them before the end of the Olympic Games."
Civil rights group concerned
But that explanation didn't sit well with civil liberties advocates, who said that if the law passes, municipalities would need to enact their own bylaws to take advantage of their new powers, and that the new powers go further than the government suggests, particularly in Vancouver.
The city passed the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bylaw in June to restrict the distribution and exhibition of unapproved advertising material and signs in any Olympic area during the Games.
City officials have said the law is intended to clamp down on so-called ambush marketing, and it includes an exception for celebratory signs, which are defined as those that celebrate the 2010 Winter Games and create or add to the festive atmosphere.
But legal experts say the definition of an unapproved sign is open to interpretation.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has been warning for several months that the vague wording might be used against anti-Olympic signs or promotions for anti-Olympic events or material.
And under the bill introduced Thursday, the maximum fine for violations would rise to $10,000 a day from $50, and a jail term of six months, the association said. As well, city officials would only have to give notice of 24 hours, rather than two weeks, before entering a property to remove a sign.
"If Vancouver acts on this provision, people will be risking $10,000-a-day fines and six months in jail just to criticize the Olympics," Robert Holmes, the president of the civil liberties group, said in statement.
"Six months in jail is usually reserved for criminals who have a record of several convictions for breaking and entering," Holmes said.
"Telling people who exercise free speech that local authorities may barge in, rip down signs inside your property, fine you or throw you in jail will underscore the growing impression that our governments care more about their own camera appearances at Olympic events than about people's rights," Holmes said.
Earlier this week, the association helped two anti-Olympics activists launch a legal challenge of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics bylaw in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming it was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says he's still studying the issue.
"Certainly, groups such as civil liberties have the right to challenge the laws, the bylaws that are made, so we'll respect that process and hopefully it makes those laws stronger and more reasonable," Robertson said.
The association is suspicious of the timing of the provincial bill's introduction so close to the Olympic games, which have been planned for years.
"We've seen them timing things so that they don't put in place laws that are special to the Olympics until the last minute," Holmes said. "And part of that leads to the suspicion that they've done it in a calculated and deliberate way, to remove the ability of the courts, and people who might want to take it to court, to have their rights protected."
Anti-Olympic activists involved in the legal challenge have also said they and their family and friends are being subject to unreasonable harassment and surveillance by the Olympic security unit.
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Ummm....no comment. This is just not right. |
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benji
Joined: 21 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:23 am Post subject: |
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| Didn't totalitarian, Maoist, communist red China do the same during its Olympics last year? |
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:44 am Post subject: |
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| This is embarrassing to those who proudly wear the Canadian flag (but not on my backpack). |
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Reggie
Joined: 21 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:31 am Post subject: |
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The law isn't all bad if you live in Vancouver and have a crappy boss or just want to prank a friend. Sneak up an "Olympics Suck" sign on their window and let the SWAT team do the rest.  |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:29 pm Post subject: Activists challenge Olympic bylaw on free speech |
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Two anti-Olympic activists have launched a court challenge to Vancouver's Olympic bylaw to defend their right to distribute material critical of the Games during and around the events.
The lawsuit was filed by Chris Shaw, a UBC professor, and Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, a student, with the support of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association on Wednesday morning at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
"I am participating in this lawsuit because I feel the bylaw as proposed by council infringes my charter rights. It is offensive to me and should be to all Canadians," said Shaw, who has been one of the most consistently outspoken critics of the Games.
"I want to be able to express my dissent," he said. "I do intend to hand out leaflets. I may stand there with a protest banner. I may want to engage tourists in conversations. I want to be able to do all those things that I am guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
The Five Ring Circus
The city passed the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bylaw in June to restrict the distribution and exhibition of unapproved advertising material and signs in any Olympic area during the Games.
It includes an exception for celebratory signs, which are defined as those that celebrate the 2010 Winter Games and create or enhance a festive environment and atmosphere.
In the statement of claim, Shaw said he intends to distribute information about his book, The Five Ring Circus, which is critical of the Olympics, with the intention of promoting sales.
He also said he intends to sell T-shirts, buttons, badges, hats and other apparel emblazoned with Olympic Resistance Network marks and messages critical of the costs imposed by the Games.
The pair are asking the court to declare the bylaw's provisions unconstitutional and order the City of Vancouver not to enforce them, but Westergard-Thorpe said she finds the whole exercise unfortunate.
"Going to court on a clear-cut free expression issue is a waste of time and money," Westergard-Thorpe said.
"We've all got better things to do, but if the city insists on passing bad bylaws, people who value free speech have no choice but to stand up and challenge them," she said.
BCCLA provides legal support
BCCLA executive director David Eby said his organization is supporting the pair because it has concerns about restrictions in the bylaws on signs that aren't celebratory and its limits on free expression in public facilities and city parks.
"Its purpose and effect is to limit citizens' rights to express dissenting views and to hear dissenting views on public property," Eby said.
The statement of claim also argues the city's charter does not give it the right to enact the bylaw's restrictive provisions.
The protesters hope to have their case heard and a ruling issued before the Olympic Games open in Vancouver in February, they said.
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| This is ridiculous. Jail time? I can understand the fine, but producing media criticizing the Olympics should not lead to imprisonment. |
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Reggie
Joined: 21 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:59 am Post subject: |
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| Canada needs to pass a Canadian Patriot Act and rent some of the empty Guantanamo cells for these Olympics dissenters. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:14 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| This is ridiculous. Jail time? I can understand the fine, but producing media criticizing the Olympics should not lead to imprisonment. |
The elite want their little celebration of Vancouver to be absent of any hiccups. It's already an embarrassing financial boondoggle.
But the whole "stolen land" thing is old. Are these hippies still burning bras too? Free Mumia? Maybe RATM will write a song about Chiapas al norte. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:21 pm Post subject: U.S. journalist grilled at Canada border crossing |
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U.S. journalist Amy Goodman said she was stopped at a Canadian border crossing south of Vancouver on Wednesday and questioned for 90 minutes by authorities concerned she was coming to Canada to speak against the Olympics.
Goodman says Canadian Border Services Agency officials ultimately allowed her to enter Canada but returned her passport with a document demanding she leave the country within 48 hours.
Goodman, 52, known for her views opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, told CBC News on Thursday that Canadian border agents asked her repeatedly what subjects she would cover at scheduled speaking engagements in Vancouver and Victoria.
Goodman said she told them she planned to speak about the debate over U.S. health care reform and the wars in Asia.
After much questioning, Goodman said the officials finally asked if she would be speaking about the 2010 Olympics.
"He made it clear by saying, 'What about the Olympics?'" said Goodman. "And I said, 'You mean when President Obama went to Copenhagen to push for the Olympics in Chicago?'"
"He said, 'No. I am talking about the Olympics here in 2010.' I said, 'Oh I hadn't thought of that,'" said Goodman.
"He said, 'You're saying you're not talking about the Olympics?'"
"He was clearly incredulous that I wasn't going to be talking about the Olympics. He didn't believe me," Goodman said.
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Shameful. |
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