Amnesty International Action To Put Human Rights On The Table On Montebello

"Take part in Amnesty International's action calling on all 3 leaders to put human rights at the centre of any new agreement" <br><br> <strong>This is standard issue communitarian tricker: dress up something that is fundamentally bad with something that appears to be good.</strong> <br><br> The result of this form of trickery is as follows: <br><br> By agreeing with the idea of putting "human rights at the centre of any new agreement", you'll be legitimizing the secretive and dictatorial process of the SPP which fundamentally undermines the democratic process and Canada's ability to function as an independent nation. <br><br> There should be NO agreement that excludes the voices of the Canadian people - PERIOD! <br><br> <strong>If we're to do anything about human rights, the last thing we should be agreeing to, are secretive and dictatorial processed that will always exclude the human rights of those who'll be affected most by this kind of process!</strong> <br><br> Keep in mind, the most powerful nation involved in the SPP is the USA, a nation that kidnaps and tortures people, that engages in wars of aggression, that lies to its own people and the entire world, that undermines its own democratic process with electoral fraud, and has a history of breaking whatever agreement no longer weighs in its favor!

If you actually read the action, the first point in the letter you can send through their site is to urge the governments of all three countries to "take steps to ensure that the SPP will be brought to the legislatures of each of Canada, Mexico and the United States so that there can be open, well-informed public debates about what is at stake".

I hardly think Amnesty is intentionally trying to legitimize the agreement by improving its human rights image--rather, Amnesty is adding its voice to all of the others protesting the secrecy and lack of protection of the public interest that the agreement involves.

It only helps our cause when a well-respected human rights organization criticizes the SPP for not including any agreements on human rights, and asks them to put in democratic measures to protect those rights.

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Once it was decided that Canada was to be a branch-plant society of American capitalism, the issue of Canadian nationalism had been settled.--George Grant

I reread the whole thing just in case I missed something, but as far as I can tell I did not miss a thing. <br><br> Here's what I read out of it: <blockquote>1. take steps to ensure that the SPP will be brought to the legislatures of each of Canada, Mexico and the United States so that there can be open, well-informed public debates about what is at stake.</blockquote> Public debate is fine, but it's completely useless without teeth behind whatever consensus is arrived at (assuming there is one), so how about a referendum vote? Instead, AI advocates essentially the same secretive and undemocratic process that's already in front of us, i.e., "ensure that the SPP will be brought to the legislatures". <blockquote> 2. ensure that a strong and binding human rights framework be developed to govern the SPP. </blockquote> According to AI, the SPP is already a foregone conclusion! <blockquote> 3. establish a North American Human Rights Council made up of independent human rights experts from all three countries whose expertise covers the full range of human rights including women's rights, Indigenous peoples rights and corporate social responsibility; and in addition have expertise in the human rights dimensions of the issues of migration, trade and investment, and counter-terrorism. </blockquote> Not only does AI want to see the SPP move ahead, but it also wants to play a part in it! Well, what else can we expect from an organization that puts 'international' behind its name?