1. ACTING OUTSIDE THE LAW
Under this legislation, CSIS agents will be allowed to act against any perceived “threat to the security of Canada,” without a judicial warrant if they claim that their activities do not contravene Charter rights or the law.
2. DISRUPT “RADICAL” WEBSITES
CSIS would be permitted to disrupt vaguely defined “radical websites”, and to apply for court orders to remove “terrorist propaganda” from the Internet.
3. “PREVENTATIVE” ARREST
The Bill lowers the legal threshold to detain people without criminal charges, and expands the reach of the “no-fly list”. CSIS agents will be allowed to break into homes and offices, seize documents, remove whatever they find, install monitoring devices, or carry out “dirty tricks” or disruptive activities a judge agrees is “reasonable”.
4. “BLACK OPERATIONS”
Since the government has declared that Canada is at war, there is every reason to believe that any judicial limits on these police powers will be minimal at best, and that these activities will be integrated with the CIA’s “black operations” around the world.
5. ZERO PUBLIC CONTROL
Just as ominous, there will be no mechanism for Canadians to even monitor CSIS, leaving only the PMO and a tiny clique of powerless and complicit government officials with knowledge of its actions.