By Nicole Brasseur

Imagine yourself on some night in the not-so-distant future. As an engaged and informed citizen, you would have enrolled in a citizens’ committee operating in our newfound form of democracy. Tonight, you would be meeting with your fellow members to discuss some important issue in your community and create appropriate policy. Getting into your car and buckling your seatbelt, you would remember how, around the year 2023, your country had come dangerously close to sinking into a full-fledged tyranny under the control of what used to be called the World Economic Forum (WEF). Driving to the meeting, you would even remember how the C-40 cities projects, spawned by the WEF, were going so far as changing the laws and plotting to force the creation of 15-minute cities throughout the country. This would have prevented you from going outside of a 15-minute radius around your home, as well as prevented you from taking part in this particular democratic activity. Thankfully, those memories of living in a Canada that disregards international agreements would seem distant!

Now, the year is 2023, and that future style of democracy you’re dreaming about has not been secured yet. In our reality, we are openly threatened by corruption as the WEF (a non-governmental organisation and an unelected lobbyist company) has cleverly infiltrated all levels of government: officials such as the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime-Minister, cabinet ministers, and party leaders are featured on the WEF’s own website! We are hearing more and more about mayors with full veto powers over the counsellors in major cities like Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, which is the beginning of the end of some of our Constitutional Rights. The rapid advancement of public-private interests intertwined with the derogation of our fundamental rights and freedoms means Canadians and Indigenous Peoples are standing at a crossroads. The actions we take in the coming months will have important repercussions on all aspects of life in Canada.

A Democracy for Few, but None for You

The mistake, made by many, is to think we enjoy a sane democracy. In fact, we are still in a 19th Century partocracy, which is now obsolete. Partocracy means that the political power belongs to the political parties, not to the people. Our only role in partocracy is to vote for party representatives who will, rest assured, represent their party line instead of the interests of the voters. Our partocracy system is weak and enables corruption because on voting day, we simultaneously choose representatives and their policies. The only form of democracy in Canada is parliamentary democracy. As the name states, only parliamentarians can use this type of democracy. These are the major reasons why we are now in a WEF-infiltrated Canada that wants nothing to do with your opinions and your preoccupations. In a parliamentary democracy, petitions, protests, and convoys have no legal value. Sadly, those are used to vilify the honest and concerned citizens who wished to stand up against corruption and injustice.

Canada and the UK have signed International Universal Human Rights Treaties. Isn’t it illegal for the Federal and Provincial Governments, and City Mayors to derogate from these legal treaties, even in times of emergency or war?

Yes, it is! The unnecessary measures and mandates of the past three years are blatant examples that Canada has strayed from signed treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which ensures peoples’ fundamental rights and freedoms even under Martial Law, States of Emergency, or War. Anyone interested in history might have noticed that this was not the first time a country derogated from such laws. Indeed, many countries did so for the sake of a “public health emergency” that fell under a newly defined meaning of “pandemic” used for COVID-19. In 1984, a colloquium of 31 experts had gathered in Siracusa, Italy, to examine the conditions for permissible derogations from the Covenant in order to foster real respect for the Rule of Law, giving us the very important Siracusa Principles. More recently, the British Medical Journal published an analysis of the handling of human rights during a pandemic and came to the conclusion that:

“Countries’ human rights obligations continue to apply in public health emergencies and should align with the Siracusa Principles, namely, that any limitation of, or derogation from, rights obligations must be lawful, pursue a legitimate aim, be strictly necessary and proportionate, be non-discriminatory, of limited duration and subject to review.”

(https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/2/e008232)

The fact is, only certain aspects of our rights can be derogated from, and only for very short periods of time. Yet our government and Justices have been stealing our rights since 1982, and before, by not following the Rule of Law.

So why are they getting away with it?

Unfortunately, we do not have the means to demand that our leaders be accountable to us.

The politicians of today hold all the power without responsibility because our collective civil and political rights to self-determination and self-governance are not recognized. If we want our voices to be heard and avoid the transgression of international treaties that were put in place to protect us, we would need a new form of democracy.

A Canadian Political Evolution

As a collective people, we should work with our representatives in our respective constituencies. As Vaughan Lyon (1930-2015), Professor Emeritus of Political Science from Trent University, explained in his book, PowerShift: From Party Elites to Informed Citizens (2013), party policies should be replaced by priorities that citizens and their representatives develop together. Professor Lyon suggested a form of policy democracy where politicians would no longer be the sole decision-makers, i.e. partocracy. The decisions would be in the hands of communities making their needs known, and from there, policy would be determined. Of course, other styles of democracy could be implemented, such as community democracy, direct democracy, and participatory democracy. Imagine having any to choose from, some combination thereof, or maybe even a specific democracy for your own geographical area and regional priorities, all the while knowing these would truly be systems in favour of the citizens, and not government and corporate representatives!

The collective people could oversee the governance of their country 365 days a year with immediate accountability. Would it take courage to transform our political system? Yes! Furthermore, obtaining true transparency of decisions and subsequent actions would be a historical moment for Canada and its citizens, reflecting a nation that would be informed and truly involved in its decision-making process and governance.

The first step is to recognize that a “democratic” mirage blinds us to the failures of an outdated political system that benefits only the political parties and other non-elected groups. Next is understanding the dynamics and legalities of the Federal and Provincial governments, and the United Kingdom under the guise of the “Rule by Law” instead of the Rule of Law. The Siracusa Principles were designed to “uphold and strengthen the principles of human rights and the rule of law throughout the world”. This is crucial if we want to undertake a nonviolent and civilised revolution toward peace, order and good governance.

Fortunately for us, the Siracusa Principles reinforce the Rule of Law. This provides us with the tools we need to protect our country and our future from being manipulated into world governance by private corporations, corrupt officials (elected or otherwise) and their non-elected acolytes. As a 21^st Century revolution, the Canadian Peoples’ Union PowerShift to Freedom project would activate our civil and political rights to collective self-determination and self-governance. Most importantly, it is a legal solution for Canadians and Indigenous Peoples to ensure that our rights are no longer threatened. The PowerShift could also be used by other countries. Presently, the missing key is for the people, including lawyers, experts and independent politicians, to come together to demand positive change and be involved in shaping our collective and sovereign rights for generations to come.

For further information: Nicole Lebrasseur contact@thepowershift.ca Tel: 226-777-5580