'Kill Bill C-39' heard in Thunder Bay and across Canada

THUNDER BAY – More than 65 protests were held across the country Thursday as environmental, Indigenous, and labour rights groups stood up against the proposed Bill C-39.

“We don't want Canada to be like the United States, where the executive branch of the government gets to make all the decisions, and that's really what we're here to say, this isn't our Canada,” said Paul Berger.

Representing Citizens United for a Sustainable Planet, Berger was one of about 50 protesters who stood in front of MP Patty Hajdu’s office chanting “Kill Bill C-39.”

Hajdu is also the federal Minister of Jobs and Families.

“We’re protesting with Indigenous groups, with labour groups and with environmental groups, all of whom think the bill is a really bad idea,” Berger said.

Bill C-39 was introduced on Sept. 21. Titled the “Building Canada Strong Act,” it allows the government to fast-track assessments and consultations to occur in under one year, to accelerate projects.

The omnibus bill, if approved, would make changes to at least 20 laws, some of which include the Impact Assessment Act, the Federal Courts Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Canada Energy Regulator Act, the Canada Transportation Act, the Access to Information Act, and the Canada Labour Code.

“They’re attacking the right to strike, which is a fundamental right under our constitution. They’re looking at jumping over environmental regulations and shortcutting consultation with Indigenous peoples, so we have to stand up against this,” Berger said.

Canada didn’t elect Carney’s government to act like the U.S. government, but to keep Canada “a sovereign country that doesn’t just give everything away to corporations,” said Berger.

Mary McPherson is a PhD candidate at the Queens University faculty of law, and said that the bill “prioritizes corporate interests over constitutionally protected, inherent rights of Indigenous peoples,” as well as the rights of workers.

Defending the changes to the labour code, Hajdu has previously rejected the claim that the bill interferes with the right to strike.

McPherson, who is also a member of Couchiching First Nation, said that it would be “almost impossible, if not impossible to actually obtain meaningful consent and consultation with Indigenous peoples” in the rushed approval timeline.

“My ancestors signed Treaty #3 with the Crown.

“We didn’t consent to become subordinated under this constitutional structure that we have in place, but we certainly didn’t consent to be subordinated under proposed legislation such as Bill C-39 and existing legislation such as the Building Canada Act,” she said.

The full summary of the bill can be found on the Parliament of Canada website.

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Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com.