McLeod Group Blog, April 12, 2014
It may come as a surprise to many Canadians who follow global civil society issues to learn that Canada chairs the Community of Democracies’ Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society, a group that believes,
An active, pluralistic civil society is an essential ingredient of a vibrant democratic political system. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are the primary vehicles through which people organize themselves to promote shared objectives and values and to convey their interests. They serve as an essential conduit and mediator between individuals and their governments, and a vehicle through which citizens can hold their leaders to account and find a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.
Last month, Vincent Rigby, Assistant Deputy Minister in Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, in a speech delivered at a high level UN meeting, underlined Canada’s commitment to the Working Group and stressed the importance of a strong civil society in developing countries. He spoke of the important role it plays in representing the voices of the poorest and most marginalized. Because of this, he said, Canada places a high priority on advocating for the meaningful inclusion of all actors, including civil society, in the elaboration and implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Canada also believes that by doing this we ensure democratic ownership of the agenda.
This is what Canadian officials are saying in the international arena. So how is civil society faring in Canada? Not so well. Under the Harper government civil society organizations that disagree with the government’s positions or engage in advocacy have had their mandates criticized and their funding threatened, reduced, or discontinued. For many, funding has been cut off without discussion or explanation. The almost complete marginalization of Canadian CSOs from both the aid program and policy engagement offers a particularly discouraging example.
The 2012 federal budget allocated $8 million to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to launch an intensified program of audits of charities focussing on their political activities—a program that has been called a “witch hunt” by opposition parties. The official explanation is that charities to be audited have been chosen in a random way or have been the subject of a complaint. In February, the CBC identified seven key environmental charities that have been critical of the Harper government’s energy policies and are being audited. There are some 85,000 charities in Canada. How likely is it that these seven were identified through a random process? Other key charities that speak out on global and human rights issues have also been targeted for audits.
While it is certainly legitimate for the CRA to review the activities of charities, it is not legitimate to use institutions of the state to harass “enemies”. Many of the charities being audited won’t speak publically for fear of reprisals, leading one CSO leader to say that one of the objectives of the audit exercise is intimidation.
A second area of concern is the almost complete lack of information about, or engagement in policy processes by CSOs. When consultations do occur, government closely controls the timing, content, and format, selects the participants and shapes the outcomes. Only a very few CSOs usually supportive of the government line are included in policy discussions. Members of groups working on international issues report that it is no longer possible to get meetings with Conservative MPs in their home ridings.
Later this month (April15 -16), Canada’s Minister of International Development, Christian Paradis, will attend a meeting in Mexico City of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. There, 1300 development leaders will assess and accelerate progress on commitments made at the 2011 Busan High Level Forum, including development of the enabling environment for CSOs. A recent report on progress made in this area, discouragingly entitled Silencing Voices, Closing Space, documents the many threats facing civil society organizations around the world.
It will be interesting to hear what Minister Paradis has to say on these issues in Mexico City, but it will be more interesting to see what he does back in Ottawa.