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- Press Release: ForestEthics Launches Petition & Website www.WeWillNotBeSilenced.ca - Calling on Canadians to Stand Up to Prime Minister’s Threats to Civil Society
- A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada
- Whistleblower Claims Prime Minister’s Office Tried to Silence Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Critic
- Whistleblower Calls Out Prime Minister Harper: “Canadians Want The Truth, And We’re Going To Get It.”
Press Release: ForestEthics Launches Petition & Website www.WeWillNotBeSilenced.ca - Calling on Canadians to Stand Up to Prime Minister’s Threats to Civil Society
For Immediate Release: January 26th, 2012
Contact: Valerie Langer — 604-307-6448
Originally Posted on ForestEthics
Vancouver – After a month of escalating rhetoric from the Harper government and oil industry front groups andconfirmation today from internal government documents that the government explicitly identified environmental and aboriginal groups as “adversaries” in its strategy to increase tar sands exports, ForestEthics has launched a petition calling on Canadians to tell the Prime Minister that they won’t be bullied into silence on issues that effect their communities, coast, province or environment.
“Canadian civil society is under threat from the intimidation tactics coming out of the Prime Minister’s office, and Canadians are insulted by insinuations from the Minister of Natural Resources that they are merely ‘bodies’ being ‘stacked’ by foreign interests” said Nikki Skuce of ForestEthics. “We are no one’s puppets and as Canadians will not take threats to democracy lying down.”
Today’s petition comes after weeks of threatening signals from the Prime Minister’s office, including an unusual open letter by Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver calling opponents of the Enbridge pipeline and tankers ‘radicals’ out “to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda.” This letter coincided with the onset of public hearings on the controversial proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.
Earlier this week, the Globe & Mail reported that a representative of the Prime Minister’s office had indicated that it considered ForestEthics — an organization founded in Canada and a part of several long-term partnerships with government and industry — to be “acting against the government of Canada and the people of Canada.”
“No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, the issue of silencing the voices of our citizens – and our democracy – should raise alarm for every Canadian,” said Valerie Langer of Forestethics. “This is bigger than any one issue, it’s about our society as a whole.”
ForestEthics, a nonprofit with staff in Canada and the United States, recognizes that individual people can be mobilized to create positive environmental change—and so can corporations. Armed with this unique philosophy, ForestEthics has secured agreements to protect more than 65 million acres of Endangered Forests. Visit forestethics.org, for more information.
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Prime Minister’s Office Tries to Silence Pipeline Critics; Labels Environmental Group “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and “Enemy of the people of Canada.”
A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada
My name is Andrew Frank. I grew up in a small town in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia. My granddad taught me how to fish. My father was a well‐respected lawyer known for his unwavering integrity, and my mother was a favourite kindergarten teacher. Both have always impressed upon me the importance of telling the truth.
Today, I am taking the extraordinary step of risking my career, my reputation and my personal friendships, to act as a whistleblower and expose the undemocratic and potentially illegal pressure the Harper government has apparently applied to silence criticsof the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil tanker/pipeline plan.
As I have detailed in a sworn affidavit, no less than three senior managers with Tides Canada and Forest Ethics (a charitable project of Tides Canada), have informed me, as the Senior Communications Manager for Forest Ethics, that Tides Canada CEO, Ross McMillan, was informed by the Prime Minister’s Office, that Forest Ethics is considered an “Enemy of the Government of Canada,” and an “Enemy of the people of Canada.”
This language was apparently part of a threat by the Prime Minister’s Office to challenge the charitable status of Tides Canada if it did not agree to stop funding Forest Ethics,specifically its work opposing oilsands expansion and construction of oilsands tanker/pipeline routes in Canada.
This is especially concerning because Forest Ethics is a legally registered intervenor in the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel process, currently examining the Enbridge oiltanker/pipeline proposal. By attempting to silence a registered participant in the review, I fear the Harper government may have permanently damaged the integrity of this process.
After waiting more than two weeks for Tides Canada to go public with this story, it has become clear to me that the organization is too afraid of reprisals from the government to act. Tides is responsible for the employment of hundreds of Canadians and dozens of crucial environmental projects like the Great Bear Rainforest, and has been understandably paralyzed in challenging the Prime Minister’s Office on this matter. I on the other hand, am speaking out as a private citizen because I feel that the rights and civil liberties of my fellow Canadian citizens, including freedom of expression and freedom of speech, are at risk.
There was a look of fear and disbelief on my fellow staff members’ faces the day they were told our own government had labelled them enemies of the state. Our administration coordinator had tears in her eyes. In the days that followed, our employees couldn’t sleep well. They lost their appetites, and they began to fear for their own personal safety and civil liberties, and those of their families and loved ones. They began looking over their shoulder, out of fear and paranoia, because their own government might be watching them.
The language of anti‐terrorism, when applied to Canadian citizens who legitimatelyquestion the wisdom of an unsustainable oil tanker/pipeline plan, is an affront to the rights of all Canadians. It is the language of bullying. It is language that is violent and above the law, and harkens to previous examples of RCMP surveillance of Canadians for political rather than legal purposes, including Tommy Douglas. The casual use of such loaded language at the top of our government is immoral, unethical and probably illegal.
A strongly opposed oil tanker/pipeline plan is now the least of this government’s worries. In its heavy‐handed attempt to override public opposition, the government has breached the public’s trust.
I now invite Canadians, including the media and members of the House of Commons, to challenge the unacceptable behaviour described in this letter and sworn in my affidavit.
Approximately three weeks from now, Mr. Harper will visit China on an official state visit. In China, Amnesty International asserts that a half‐million “enemies of the government” are held in prisons without charge.
If the argument in favour of the Enbridge pipeline is that Canada stands to make billions selling oil to an oppressive Chinese government, then my answer is “no thank you.” That’snot “ethical oil,” especially when profiting from this oil wealth requires repressive tactics against critical citizens ‐ tactics we would normally associate with the Chinese state, not Canada.
The events of the last month have ensured that I will never take my rights as a Canadian citizen for granted again. That is both sad and encouraging. Sad that I ever had to question them, and encouraging because I have been reminded of another lesson taught to me by my parents: the best way to stop a bully is to stand up to him.
I invite you to join me in expressing your voice on what is perhaps the most pressing moral crisis facing our nation today. Together we can hold this government to account and prevent the dismantling of Canadian civil society and the further erosion of citizens’ rights.
Andrew Frank is a Canadian citizen, and the former Senior Communications Manager with Forest Ethics Canada. He is also an instructor in the Environmental Protection Technology program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in Surrey, British Columbia.
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Whistleblower Claims Prime Minister’s Office Tried to Silence Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Critic
Affidavit claims Prime Minister’s Office labelled environmental group an “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and an, “Enemy of the People of Canada”.
Jan 24, 2012 | MARKETWIRE
The Prime Minister’s Office tried to cut funding of a registered intervenor in the Enbridge Pipeline Review, calling ForestEthics Canada an, “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and an, “Enemy of the People of Canada”, according to allegations detailed in a sworn affidavit, dated January 23, 2012.
Sworn by Andrew Frank, former Senior Communications Manager with ForestEthics Canada, and an instructor in the Environmental Protection Technology program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the affidavit cites three senior managers with Tides Canada and ForestEthics, as well as personal email correspondence.
“Today, I am taking the extraordinary step of risking my career, my reputation and my personal friendships, to act as a whistleblower and expose the undemocratic and potentially illegal pressure the Harper government has apparently applied to silence critics of the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil tanker/pipeline plan,” says Frank.
The affidavit alleges the Prime Minister’s Office has made an attempt to influence the charitable funding of ForestEthics Canada, a registered intervenor in the National Energy Board’s federal review process for the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
According to the affidavit, the Prime Minister’s Office has informed Tides Canada CEO, Ross McMillan, that it considers ForestEthics to be an “Enemy of the Government of Canada”, and an “Enemy of the people of Canada”, and that unless Tides Canada alters its charitable support of ForestEthics, there will be consequences.
“Canadian citizens will be shocked to learn that their own government is labelling critics of the Enbridge oil tanker/pipeline project, ‘Enemies of the Government of Canada’,” says Mr. Frank. “When a government starts labelling its own citizens ‘enemies’, it has lost its moral authority to govern.”
Frank adds, “If the Prime Minister’s Office is working behind the scenes to silence voices of opposition and legitimate criticism, how can Canadians have any confidence in this review process? Canadians should be deeply concerned about this information, and I invite those named in my affidavit to sign sworn affidavits attesting to whether or not this is the truth.”
Mr. Frank has also written an open letter to the citizens of Canada free for reprint by media:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/79228736/Whistleblower-s-Open-Letter-to-Canad ians
Contacts:
Andrew Frank
Former Senior Communications Manager, ForestEthics Canada
604-367-2112 www.andrewfrank.ca
SOURCE: www.andrewfrank.ca
http://www.andrewfrank.ca
Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.
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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Jan 25, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — An open letter accusing the Harper government of labelling a Canadian critic of the Enbridge oil tanker and pipeline project an, “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and an “Enemy of the People of Canada” has gone viral, reaching 40,000 views in less than 24 hours.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/79228736/Whistleblower-s-Open-Letter-to-Canadians
The letter was written by Andrew Frank, who was fired by Tides Canada for going public with the story. The letter appears to have tapped into a deep public concern about the Harper government’s apparent contempt for the basic tenants of democracy, including citizens’ rights to free speech and freedom of expression.
“The response to this story has been overwhelming,” says Frank. “I have received phone calls and emails of support from across the country, and online through Facebook and Twitter. Complete strangers are writing to say they stand with me.”
Following a whirlwind of media coverage, Frank notes that the implicit truth of his story is now on the public record and that means citizens can demand more information from their government.
“Those named in my sworn affidavit, including the Government of Canada and Tides Canada, have not answered the fundamental question I was fired for: Did the Prime Minister’s office attempt to pressure a charitably-funded environmental organization, and in doing so, did it label ForestEthics Canada an “Enemy of the Government of Canada”, and an, “Enemy of the people of Canada?”
Frank points to a Canadian Press article where Prime Minister’s Office spokesman, Andrew MacDougall, refused to comment when asked if either Tides Canada or ForestEthics had been targeted by the government.
“The government’s silence speaks volumes to the truth. As more and more Canadians raise their voice, the truth is eventually going to come out,” says Frank.
Frank has posted a series of specific questions he hopes the media and opposition MPs will ask the PMO “over and over and over again” in the days and weeks ahead, until the truth is revealed:
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Winnipeg Free Press: Affidavit accuses Prime Minister’s Office of threatening environmental charity
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