Recently, the government of Canada announced that they are scrapping the Rights and Democracy agency (or, for googling purposes, better known as The International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development). According to the website, the agency was created in 1988 “to encourage and support the universal values of human rights and the promotion of democratic institutions and practices around the world” (source). This was interesting timing for the agency’s creation, as it was right towards the end of the Cold War and the Western powers’ fight against communism.
CBC outlines the turmoil that arose within the agency in 2010, when government-appointed board members challenged the funding of three human rights organizations because they were anti-Israel.
The controversy stems an interesting conversation about the supposedly non-partisan nature of the agency. Traditionally, non-partisan has been associated with intra-national politics. With increasing internationalization, countries are faced with the challenge of maintaining this non-partisan stance on a global level.
While the government says it will simply absorb the work of the agency into other departments, it will be interesting to see whether or not Canada’s role changes within international politics.
This Democracy-In-The-News post is coming to you guys a little late – I have unfortunately been out of commission for a few weeks and have fallen behind. The good news is, it’s a good week to write three posts on Democracy in the News, as plenty seems to be happening in the world.
I figured I’d kick off my catch-up-blogging by discussing the recent voter suppression controversy that has been dominating the news. This issue is, obviously, incredibly pertinent to our class material. Voter suppression would be a serious infringement on the freedoms that are inherent to a “true democracy”, as outlined by basically every measure of democracy discussed in this class. This particular blog post will discuss this article in the Vancouver Sun. For those of you who don’t know – though I am sure you all do – voters in certain districts reported receiving phone calls sending them to incorrect (or non-existant) polling stations. In the article, MP Pat Martin is quoted discussing the fundamental freedom of free and fair elections – and, importantly within that quote, free and fair elections “without interference”. The article makes reference to the illegality of interference in the Elections Act, although (irritatingly) did not provide a link or reference a specific section of the act in which it says this.
Thank goodness for google, I found it here, under provision 281(g), stating:
No person shall, inside or outside of Canada, willfully prevent or endeavour to prevent an elector from voting at an election.
It may seem obvious enough to us in a democratic system, but pending the results of an investigation into this situation, this country may be in need of a reminder.