Canada’s surveillance state rolls along

Re Step up on press freedom, Editorial Dec. 3 I hope the Federal Court of Canada invites the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to further explain the spying on journalists it may have conducted in the past. While the court may indeed have provided a warrant for such actions — a troubling development by itself — CSIS also has a record of misleading the court about its intentions, breaching its duty of candour.

The most decisive court in the land, which should support Sen. Claude Carignan’s private member’s bill establishing stronger protections for journalists and their sources, is the conviction of Canadians. Unfortunately, too many of us have acquiesced to the emergence of a surveillance state in our nation.

Many feel they have nothing to fear from expansive surveillance because they have nothing to hide. In the eyes of the surveillance state, your opinions about your innocence count for nothing.

You won’t know whether you have been spied on or what conclusions have been drawn. You won’t know you are a target for “disruptive” actions, permitted by the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2015.

Consider now whether you would say the same things to the same people if you knew CSIS might be listening. Would you tell a journalist about government corruption you found at your workplace? If you paused to think about your answer, you have discovered the value of privacy and her twin sister, freedom. The two are never found apart. Brian Alexander, Mississauga