Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act Criminalizes the Affirmation of Rights

- Peggy Morton -

The Alberta legislature began its spring session on February 25 with the introduction of Bill 1, the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, immediately following the Speech from the Throne. Albertans and Indigenous peoples are affirming their rights and demanding an end to the brutal anti-social offensive and destruction of the social fabric of society. Instead of addressing their concerns, the first act of the Kenney government was to escalate the offensive against all who are defending rights and laying their claims and to call on all the other provinces to adopt such legislation.

The Kenney government stated that the aim of the bill is "to protect essential infrastructure from damage or interference caused by blockades, protests or similar activities, which can cause significant public safety, social, economic and environmental consequences." Bill 1 applies to public as well as private infrastructure.

Bill 1 provides penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offence, up to $25,000 for subsequent offensives, with possible prison time of up to six months, and up to $200,000 for "corporations that help or direct trespassers." Each day that a "contravention" exists constitutes a new offence. Police can make arrests at their discretion without a warrant or injunction.

The bill provides a long list of "essential infrastructure," including pipelines, oil and gas production and refinery sites, utilities, highways, railways, telecommunications, mines, agricultural sites, and the land on which infrastructure is located, plus "a building, structure, device or other thing prescribed by the regulations." In short -- "essential infrastructure" is anything the government declares it to be. Regulations are enacted under the prerogative or police powers of the executive and can be changed at any time by executive decision.

The Kenney government claims to be defending law and order against anarchy and chaos. "Over the last number of weeks, we've seen growing lawlessness across the country, pushing our railway lines to grind to a halt," Alberta Minister of Justice Doug Schweitzer said. "This is simply unacceptable. This is a mockery of our democratically founded country. So we're now taking decisive action to respond to this."

Kenney's rage, hatred, vitriol, and spirit of revenge against those who defend their rights reveals in all its ugliness the face of the old society where "anything goes" to preserve the rule of the rich and serve the mainly foreign monopolies who have seized control of all decision-making. Unable to solve any problem facing the people, their answer is to lash out, defaming individuals and criminalizing ideology and acts of resistance.

This "rule of law" negates the reality that Indigenous peoples in Alberta are not a conquered people and their land rights have never been extinguished. Most of the traditional Indigenous territories in Alberta are covered by treaty in which the Indigenous peoples agreed to share the land. They are not land surrender treaties, and there is no rule of law when treaty and inherent rights are negated.

Bill 1 is also directed against workers who defend their rights through strike action, and against the resistance to the anti-social offensive and the united stand and No! of the public sector workers to the assault on their wages, conditions of work and security in retirement. It is intended to target workers defending their picket lines, which are already confined by injunctions and other means intended to make them ineffective. Bill 1 adds to the arsenal used to impose huge fines on unions which uphold the right of workers to decide the wages and working conditions acceptable to them.

It does not stop there. Kenney's contempt for international rule of law was evident in the Throne Speech when he declared, "The Government of Alberta is prepared to do whatever it takes to develop our resources responsibly and get them to global markets to compete with and displace energy from some of the world's worst regimes." "Whatever it takes" means support for regime change, murderous sanctions, aggression and war, used in part to "displace" oil from countries such as Venezuela, Iran and Iraq. It means an Alberta economy tied to the U.S. war machine and attempts to criminalize all opposition.

It goes without saying that Bill 1 will be challenged on the basis that it is illegal and a violation of the Charter or civil right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. It will also certainly be challenged by the people in action to defend their human rights as well as their civil rights. When laws do not recognize the rights which belong to people by virtue of their being, including the sovereign rights of Indigenous peoples and the rights of workers as the producers of all social value, a serious problem arises. This refusal creates a conflict between the authority and the modern conditions. That is a big problem facing the people and society, which needs to be addressed and resolved. It is not a problem which can be sorted out by using force and violence in the name of "law and order."

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam noted, "Looking at all the issues and concerns that First Nations people have regardless of where they're living, major cities or reserves, they're all living the same conditions. Nothing has improved so you're going to probably see more demonstrations in that regards.

"You've got to remember that Jason Kenney was part of the Harper government in Ottawa which was pretty much run like a police state; so if he's following the same footsteps in that regard, I guess we're going to have a police-state province," said Adam.

Adam's comments reflect the reality that people will not accept a rule of law in contempt of a modern understanding of the purpose of law to serve the cause of justice. No matter how hard Kenney tries to sow division and rancour, incite vigilantism, tear up agreements and impose the will of the oligarchs through the use of police powers, it is not going to stop the forward march of Albertans and the Indigenous peoples. The need for democratic renewal to provide the working people with a say in governance and for nation-to-nation relations between Canada and the Indigenous peoples has never been more urgent. Bill 1 must be repealed!

Our Security Lies in the Fight for the Rights of All!

This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 6 - February 29, 2020

Article Link:
Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act Criminalizes the Affirmation of Rights - Peggy Morton

    

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