Remembrance Day: Affirm our aspirations for peace and a world without interference, threats, war and aggression!

January 25, 2020. Demonstration in Montreal opposing U.S. aggression against Iran.

By Christine Dandenault

The workers of Canada and Quebec do not want Canada to contribute to world conflicts or wars of aggression against friendly peoples. The 2003 march of more than 200,000 people in the streets of Montreal in minus 20 degree Celsius weather against the invasion of Iraq, along with various actions organized against the presence of NATO warships in the Port of Montreal and elsewhere against the promotion of war amongst the youth clearly attest to this.

50th anniversary of War Measures Act (VI) – Film Les Ordres by Michel Brault (1974)

Sixth in a series on the issues and goals of the “October Crisis” and the forces in motion, reposted from TML Weekly.

Image from the film Les Ordres

Michel Brault’s film Les Ordres (The Orders) was made four years after the events triggered by the proclamation of the War Measures Act in October 1970. The film focuses on the repercussions of the War Measures Act, and more precisely on the resulting arbitrary arrests. At the time of the making of the film, the frustration among the people arising from the events of October 1970 was still palpable as a result of the flagrant violation of the individual freedoms of citizens. The film deals with this legislation and the reaction of the government of Pierre Elliot Trudeau to trample the rights and freedoms of citizens in the name of public safety. The message conveyed by Michel Brault is clear. He explains that he “didn’t want to make a film about the October Crisis, but rather about humiliation.”

To view the film click here. 

For a trailer of the movie Les Ordres with English subtitles, click here.

50th anniversary of War Measures Act (V) – Courageous resistance to military occupation and attempt to isolate Quebec

Fifth in a series on the issues and goals of the “October Crisis” and the forces in motion, reposted from TML Weekly.

University of Calgary students hold a large rally on campus on October 27, 1970 to denounce the War Measures Act. After the rally, 300 students march angrily to downtown Calgary. Some 1,000 students in Regina organize similar actions.

By Christine Dandenault

When the government of Pierre Elliot Trudeau enacted the War Measures Act on October 16, 1970 and the army was deployed in the streets of Ottawa and Montreal before that and arrests began, opposition and resistance was immediate across the country. Students and youth, intellectuals, working people and other collectives in their thousands protested all across the country. The following account is taken from newspapers published by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and its affiliated organizations at the time the events were taking place.

50th anniversary of War Measures Act (IV) – Honour to those unjustly imprisoned during the 1970 ‘October Crisis’

Fourth in a series on the issues and goals of the “October Crisis” and the forces in motion, reposted from TML Weekly.

Rally of 1,500 in Vancouver, October 19, 1970, one of many actions across the country supporting the Quebec people’s struggle and opposing imposition of the War Measures Act.

Youth fill Paul Sauvé Arena in Montreal in support of Quebec national liberation on the eve of the declaration of the War Measures Act in October 1970. A number of the youth in attendance are among those arrested in the raids which follow the Act being invoked.

50th anniversary of War Measures Act (III) – State-sanctioned Black Ops and cover-ups

Third of a series on the issues and goals of the “October Crisis” and the forces in motion, reposted from TML Weekly.

Police attack demonstration led by CPC(M-L) activists outside the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, March 3, 1971. The demonstration supports the Quebec people and opposes the attacks launched on them by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s government.

By Anna Di Carlo

There are many official as well as media accounts of crimes committed against Canadians, Quebeckers and Indigenous peoples by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Some of the crimes are left out of the accounts altogether; others are said to be unacceptable aberrations or necessary despite the violations of rights. All in all, it is said that such crimes belong to the past or even that they have contributed to strengthening our democracy. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) was created in 1984 to, allegedly, “collect intelligence but not pass to action” and thus we were to believe that the days of the dirty deeds of the RCMP were over. Of course, it is not true that after 1984 the security services stopped violating the rights of the people. These include cover-up of their involvement in the 1985 Air India disaster. Since 9/11, every manner of excuse has been given to violate rights with impunity. Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act 2015 extends powers to CSIS to allow it to conduct activities that resemble those of the RCMP prior to 1984.

This article provides a brief review of the official story and what the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) had to say about this at the time the events were taking place. The aim of the review is to sum up this experience so that people can provide themselves with a suitable guide to action which serves the present and opens a path to a safe and bright future.

50th anniversary of War Measures Act (II) – Police power above the civil power: The true nature of Canadian democracy

Second of a series on the issues and goals of the “October Crisis” and the forces in motion, reposted from TML Weekly.

Demonstration outside Tanguay prison in Montreal, January 1971, calls for the release of political prisoners detained under the War Measures Act.

Media disinformation about the invocation of the War Measures Act in 1970 tends to focus only on some events which were taking place in October 1970 and discussion on whether or not Pierre Elliot Trudeau over-reacted or if there truly was a state of apprehended insurrection at the time. Information brought to light in 2010 about the RCMP’s secret plans, first devised in 1950, for indefinite detention and internment of thousands of Canadians, code-named PROFUNC (PROminent FUNCtionaries of the Communist Party), was used, amongst other things, to suggest that the phenomenon of the police being above the civil power was a thing of the past.

50th anniversary of War Measures Act (I) – The significance of the proclamation of War Measures

Demonstration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 1970 opposing the invoking of the War Measures Act.

First of a series on the issues and goals of the “October Crisis” and the forces in motion, reposted from TML Weekly.

The Significance of the Proclamation of War Measures

By Pauline Easton

Army deployed on the streets of Montreal October 15, 1970, the day before the War Measures Act is invoked.

October 16, 2020 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the proclamation of the War Measures Act by the Liberal government headed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Trudeau declared a state of “apprehended insurrection” in order to use the powers of the War Measures Act, which had been used in World War I and World War II to indefinitely detain people without charges or trial.

The police carried out more than 1,000 raids between October 7 and 10, 1970. Using the provisions of the National Defence Act, the army appeared on the streets of Ottawa on October 12 and on the streets of Montreal on October 15. After the War Measures Act was invoked, the police carried out another 3,068 raids and searches without warrants. During these raids police arrested 465 people and held them without charges. The vast majority of the people arrested were released after 21 days without charges while others were held for longer periods.

This Day. 30th anniversary of the brutal military assault on the Mohawk at Kanehsatà:ke

Although the siege ended, the land issues that were at the core of the dispute persist to this day. For Nation-to-Nation relations and an end to genocide of Indigenous Peoples | Fernand Deschamps 

March marks 25th anniversary of Oka uprising, July 11, 2015.

“The plight of the Indigenous peoples of this country is a matter of great concern to everyone. This includes the Trudeau government. Unfortunately, the government’s concern is not to redress historical wrongs as the times demand. It is to achieve what has eluded previous governments – which is to extinguish Indigenous peoples’ rights once and for all, so as to steal their lands and resources. At the same time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seeks to restore Canada’s tarnished human rights record on the world stage. This is a reputation as a violator of human rights due to its abysmal record of criminal negligence of the conditions of life of the Indigenous peoples in Canada and crimes committed against them.”  – Pauline Easton[1]

Thirty years ago, at dawn on July 11, 1990, about 100 heavily armed officers of the Sureté du Québec (SQ) attacked members of the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kanehsatà:ke (Mohawk nation, member of Haudenosaunee Confederacy) who had set up a blockade on a dirt road leading to a sacred Indigenous burial site to oppose the expansion of a golf club on Mohawk territory located close to the town of Oka, Quebec. For the project to proceed, the forest known as the Pines, as well as the Pine Hill Cemetery, the community of Kanehsatà:ke’s graveyard, would have to be bulldozed. To prevent this destruction, people of Kanehsatà:ke erected a barricade on a small, secondary dirt road through the Pines, as early as March 1990.

This Day. 7th anniversary of Lac-Mégantic tragedy – The need to build a public authority that defends public not private interests

By Pierre Chénier

July 6, 2020 marked the seventh anniversary of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy, one of the worst train disasters in Canadian history. 

On the evening of July 5, 2013, a freight train comprised of five locomotives and 72 tanker cars, unsuited for the type of crude oil they carried, was left unattended in Nantes, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. At around 1:00 am the train started to roll down the slope towards the town of Lac-Mégantic. Shortly after, 63 of the tanker cars derailed in downtown Lac-Mégantic, spilling their contents and causing a series of fires and explosions of catastrophic proportions.

This Day. The Summer Solstice and Quebec’s National Holiday

186 years of National Day celebrations

On June 24, 1834, 186 years ago, Ludger Duvernay, founder of the patriotic institution Aide-toi le ciel t’aidera (God helps those who help themselves) inaugurated this day as the National Day of the fledgling Quebec nation and dedicated the first toast to “the people, the primary source of all legitimate authority.” Ever since, “this celebration, the purpose of which is to cement the union between Canadiens,”[1] is the occasion to celebrate, through music and song, gatherings, parades and neighbourhood activities, who we are as a people, where we come from and where we are going. It is a multi-dimensional celebration of the season, very much like the summer solstice and celebrates the need for us all, of diverse social and national backgrounds, to come together and take stock of our common history and social relations.

Military reports on seniors’ homes in Ontario and Quebec: The crisis reveals that decision-making power must be taken out of the hands of those who are unfit to govern

A serious question arises about why these reports from the Canadian Armed Forces on conditions in long-term care are being given such prominence. The publication of these reports portrays the military as a lead agency in addressing a public health crisis | PEGGY MORTON

Public sector workers demonstrate outside Quebec Premier Legault’s office, May 28, 2020.

 

The release of reports from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) on conditions in long-term care facilities in Ontario and Quebec has been followed by announcements by Premier Doug Ford in Ontario and Premier François Legault in Quebec in which they promise to address the crisis in long-term and seniors’ care. The Ontario report on five long-term care facilities was issued May 20, and released to the media May 26. The report on 25 Quebec homes was released on May 27.

The reports generated major media attention, with the term “abuse” being the most common word used in headlines about the Ontario reports.

French-language “Leaders’ Debate”: Quebec-bashing over Bill 21

Quebec’s Bill 21 is raised often across the country as an “election issue.” It is expected to dominate the French-language “leaders’ debate” on October 10 as well. Renewal Update asked Diane Johnston who is running in the Montreal riding of Mount Royal for her opinion on Bill 21 and the Quebec-bashing which is taking place in this election.

Six years on from the train explosion in Lac-Mégantic: A shocking account of criminal negligence

The report and interview in this issue of Renewal Update provide a shocking account of the criminal negligence of governments and the self-regulating railway companies.

The terrible memory of what happened in Lac-Mégantic is still fresh in people’s minds, with local residents still reeling from the experience.

152nd anniversary of Confederation: All out to give Canada a modern constitution and definition of rights

July 1 marks the 152nd anniversary of Confederation. On this date in 1867, the British North America Act, 1867 united four separate colonies of the British Empire in North America into the Dominion of Canada. The Indigenous nations and peoples were made subject to the racist colonial Indian Act and subjected to genocide on a grand scale while the Métis people were also treated on a racist basis and the Métis Nation was ignored.

ABI workers, families and allies demand an end to Alcoa/Rio Tinto/Quebec government dictate

Powerful family solidarity march with locked-out ABI workers

Over 5,000 people marched with great spirit and dignity in the streets of downtown Trois-Rivières on Saturday, May 25. They marched in honour and support of the aluminum workers in Bécancour who have stood firm in defence of their rights despite being locked out of their smelter for over 16 months by the Alcoa/Rio Tinto/Quebec Government cabal, Workers’ Forum reports in an edition devoted to the manifestation.

Workers came from many regions of Quebec and as far away as Chibougamau in Northern Quebec, and Fermont, in the northern part of Quebec’s North Shore. Workers also came from Toronto and Hamilton. [More]

Devastating floods in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick

Affirmation of social solidarity and need for measures to protect shoreline municipalities

Devastating floods are currently affecting many regions of Quebec, as well as parts of Ontario and New Brunswick. According to the provisional report published by Urgences Québec on April 28, there are 6,424 flooded homes, 3,508 dwellings isolated by water and 9,522 evacuees in Quebec.

Reality Check 1: Operation ‘Brave New Canadian’ – The Haitians

This demonstration outside the Riding Office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal did not make the front page of the monopoly media, let alone the inside pages. The demonstration demanded an end to the deportation of non-status persons of Haitian origin – The Action Committee on Non-Status Persons

The Canadian government is cynically using an orchestrated media operation centring around Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and a Saudi teenager flown to Canada in a special plane from Thailand on January 12 to receive asylum to camouflage how it is trampling on the rights and dignity of immigrants, refugees and migrant workers.

Every day dozens of people are being deported from Canada to Haiti. Non-status persons of Haitian origin awaiting deportation are experiencing insufferable harassment on the part of the Canadian government. One day the government is deporting them, the next day it is not. One day their application for asylum is refused, their deportation date is set, and the next it is annulled and they are told that they will be called back in a couple of weeks. This is an inhumane and untenable situation.

Bombardier debacle shows what it means for Quebec to be ‘open for business’

By K.C. ADAMS

The U.S. warmongers of Boeing and the Pentagon have crushed Bombardier’s Canadian commercial jet production. While doing so, they also seized Brazil’s Embraer commercial jet production this past July. The anti-social pro-U.S. coup government of Brazil appears to have approved the Boeing takeover of Embraer. The former Brazilian governments of Presidents Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff opposed the U.S. war profiteers gaining control of Embraer. However, Rousseff was removed from office via a parliamentary coup in 2016 and Lula was unjustly imprisoned and blocked from running again for office this year. The foreign seizure of both Embraer and Bombardier’s commercial jet sectors leaves Boeing and the Pentagon in face-to-face open combat for dominance with Airbus and its European backers.

Bombardier economy in turmoil

Necessity for a new pro-social outlook and direction for the economy | K.C. ADAMS

For the second time in two years, Bombardier has announced massive cuts to its workforce. In 2016, the global oligopoly fired 7,000 workers; this time another 5,000 workers will be dismissed: 2,500 workers in Quebec, another 500 in Ontario and 2,000 elsewhere with Belfast in the north of Ireland the most probable target.

This day in 1885: Anniversary of the hanging of Louis Riel

Métis leader Louis Riel (centre) surrounded by councillors of the Métis Legislative Assembly of Assinaboia.

ON NOVEMBER 16, 1885, the British colonial power executed the great Métis leader Louis Riel. Riel had been charged and found guilty of high treason after the Métis were defeated at the Battle of Batoche in May of that year. The execution of Louis Riel was intended as an assault on the consciousness of the Métis nation, but was unsuccessful in putting an end to their fight for their rights and dignity as a nation. The struggle of the Métis to affirm their right to be and exercise control over their political affairs continues to this day.

Canada and the First World War

On the occasion of the centenary of the end of World War I, TML Weekly has been producing an excellent series of informative Supplements on the war and related matters of concern. This is the second in the series. Click for No. 1 (How the First World War Out); No. 2 (Canada and the First World War); No. 3 (British Movement of Conscientious Objectors); No. 4 (Contributions and Slaughter of Colonial Peoples in World War I);  No. 5 (Steadfast Opposition to the Betrayal of the Workers’ Movement); No. 6 (Poems on the Occasion of the Centenary of the End of World War I – Moments of Quiet Reflection.

Conscription
• Opposition to Conscription in Canada and Quebec
• The Case of Ginger Goodwin
• Recruitment of Indigenous Peoples
• Black Construction Battalion

Internment
• The War Measures Act and Internment of Canadians

Independent Labour Politics
• Registration, Conscription, and Independent Labour Politics, 1916-1917 – Martin Robin

World War I: The resistance to conscription in Winnipeg

– On the occasion of the centenary of the end of World War I, we are featuring a series of articles on the war and related matters of concern. This article was originally published on this blog inn 2014. –

By JIM BLANCHARD*

It is well known that the adoption of conscription in Canada during the First World War was very unpopular in Quebec. Although many Quebecois volunteered to serve in the army in the first years of the war, large numbers of French Canadians disagreed with sending troops overseas when the country did not seem to be threatened.

What is less known is the fact that Canadians in the rest of the country also opposed conscription.  Winnipeg was no exception and there was a good deal of resistance in the city.

Canada being used for NATO military training

Members of the next contingent taking part in Operation REASSURANCE in Latvia, participated in the training exercise on the Valcartier Base and in the Quebec municipalities Portneuf and Jacques-Cartier, October 17-23.

By CHRISTINE DANDENAULT

From October 19 to 21, the troops of the next contingent that will take part in Operation REASSURANCE used the regional municipalities of Portneuf and Jacques-Cartier in Quebec for training. They surveyed the roads of Portneuf, Cap-Santé, Saint-Basile, Pont-Rouge, Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, Shannon and Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier on foot or in armoured vehicles.

This day. Trudeau invokes the War Measure’s Act

Constituting the fascist state as a legal regime

Canadian soldiers take over the streets of Montreal following the invocation of the War Measures Act, October 1970.

Forty-eight years ago on October 16, 1970, the federal Liberal government led by Pierre Elliott Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. Trudeau declared a state of “apprehended insurrection” in response to kidnappings and mailbox bombings taking place in Quebec. The War Measures Act gave the police the power to act without warrants and to detain people indefinitely without charges or trial.

Quebec election comes to a close

TML Weekly asked Pierre Chénier, leader of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec (PMLQ), his thoughts on the Quebec election in the final days of the campaign. That interview is published below.

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Workers speak out during Quebec election campaign

Entirely absent in the monopoly media are the concerns and voices of the working people. This becomes very clear during elections. On the other hand, publications such as Workers’ Forum, TML Weekly and Chantier Politique along with some other voices allow working people to soberly talk about their concerns and their demands, the defence of their own interests, as well as those of the whole of society and what needs to be done to provide them with solutions. The aim is that people are not befuddled and blocked from discussing and finding solution to their concerns.

Tornado strikes the Outaouais leaving many families homeless

Chantier Politique, online bulletin of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec (PMLQ), has published several items on the tornadoes, effect, response and environmental, social and political implications of such natural disasters:

Make Quebec a Zone for Peace

 

By Christine Dandenault*

On Monday, September 10, nearly 150 scientists and technicians from the security agencies of the member countries of the Five Eyes and about 100 soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces Royal 22nd Regiment 3rd Battalion’s ‘B’ Company began testing some 50 or so new technologies in Montreal.

The Quebec election

There are lots of insightful and informative articles on the website of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec (PMLQ) coming out as the election campaign unfolds. Check it out: http://pmlq.qc.ca/ *

The media and the fear factor: Conning Canadians and demonizing Indigenous People

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Indigenous Nations are fighting for their rights, identity, land and resources. The assault by the state at all levels in collusion with the monopoly media on the Indigenous peoples is an assault on the democratic rights all Canadians, as sovereigntist leaders have been warning for years. “The Indigenous people are the canary in the coal mine.” – TS

Presentation by Kahn-Tineta Horn, Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory Indigenous People’s Solidarity Rally, Montreal, June 19, 2004

I’m here today to give you a warning. I want to tell you about what’s happening at Kanehsatake because what’s happening there is a direct threat to the future of your children and my grandchildren. If we want to protect the future of the next seven generations, we have to act now and we have to act together.