Here is a report of some street theatre we did on the weekend. Youtube link to follow...
People waiting for the bus or just going to the market were confronted with a strange site in downtown Hamilton today. Average citizen "Lucy Gordon" who was minding her own business was taken away by authorities. Passers by were confused by screams of "Let me go! I have rights!" and shocked to see her being forced to the ground and a dark hood placed over her head.
Although we are used to seeing arbitrary detention like this in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, what happened in downtown Hamilton today was symbolic of similar occurrences here in Canada.
The Campaign to Stop Secret Trials – Hamilton decided to do some performance art before new "Security Certificate" legislation is introduced in the House of Commons.
Today is the National Day to Stop Secret Trials, and although the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled Security Certificates to be unconstitutional, the current government has decided that security certificates need only to be redrafted.
As surprised as people were that someone could just be taken off the street and held without charge, they would be even more surprised to learn that their government is locking people up without charging them, without giving them access to "evidence" against them, and attempting to deport them to countries that will torture them.
"Part of the message in our performance," said Chris Shannon one of the participants, "was to show that this can happen to anyone. There are fundamental principals of justice. Currently, under the Security Certificate process, people are not even getting a fair trail."
The Campaign to Stop Secret Trials – Hamilton joins everyone nation wide today who calls for the end of security certificate legislation, an end to deportations to torture, that everyone threatened under this legislation be charged or released unconditionally, and the closing of the Kingston holding facility that holds security certificate detainees.
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