The Harper Government Snitch Line

Here is a recent campaign announcement from the Harper campaign made by CPC MPs Chris Alexander and Kellie Leith:

"A re-elected Conservative Government will remain committed to ending barbaric cultural practices overseas and in Canada through a multifaceted commitment:

•    We will establish a new targeted program to prevent child and forced marriage in the world’s conflict zones, particularly among refugee girls who have been displaced by war and who are at risk of forced marriage. The program will cost $12 million over 4 years and the first year of funding will be targeted at preventing child and forced marriage among girls impacted by the conflict in Iraq and Syria.

•     An RCMP tip line will be established that citizens and victims can call with information about incidents of barbaric cultural practices in Canada or to notify authorities that a child or woman is at risk of being victimized.

•  RCMP integrated units will also be created in Canada’s major cities – including Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver – to enforce the changes made to Canadian laws under the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Actand to support victims. This is addition to a new $8 million commitment to establish integrated RCMP anti-human trafficking teams in those same cities.

•    We will invest $20 million to renew the Human Trafficking Action Plan for an additional 5 years." (my bold)

Here's why:

"The Conservative Government has been an international leader in bringing attention to the issues of child and forced marriage, and in combatting barbaric cultural practices that violate the rights, health and security of girls and women.

Every year, 15 million girls are forced into marriage worldwide. Complications from childbirth are the leading cause of death among these child bride.  Physical abuse, sexual slavery, and so-called ‘honour’ killings are also carried out daily against girls and women around the world. A brutal practice carried out in some African and Middle Eastern countries is female genital mutilation, which has impacted more than 125 million girls and women alive today.

In the last year, the atrocities committed by ISIS against girls and women have also horrified the world. Girls who fall into the hands of ISIS are regularly raped and sold into sexual slavery.  Media have recounted the harrowing stories of girls who have escaped from ISIS having been ‘sold’ in slave markets."

The establishment of an RCMP tip line that can be used by Canadians to "rat" on each other appears, on the surface, to be relatively innocuous and harmless and potentially in the best interest of the children and women involved.  However, getting citizens of a nation to fear the "other" or the "outsider" is a tried and true formula for dividing a country.  Throughout history, governments have used fear to distract their citizens and create an us against us (the other) environment rather than an us (all citizens) against them (government).

Just like taking away citizenship is walking the knife edge that lies between justice and injustice, a government sanctioned and promoted snitch line is one step closer to a divided nation, one that pits one group of Canadians against another, most particularly Stephen Harper's "old stock" Canadians and the nation's immigrants, particularly those of the Muslim faith.  Along with the Harper government's focus on the niqab non-issue, which has hopefully finally ended, and their love of all things Israel, it is quite apparent which group is favoured by the Conservative Party of Canada. 

Dr. Leitch and Mr. Alexander are among the two best educated Conservative Party Members of Parliament.  One would hope for better from both of them but apparently, when you swallow the CPC Koolaid, you check your personal discretion at the door.