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I have a list

These are the infamous words of Joe McCarthy as he set about re-arranging peoples lives

in the 1950s. The Senators Committee on un-American Activities threw the Red Scare

into everyone. His list became synonymous with smears, innuendo, informants and ruined

careers.

The Harper Government has a list as well. Its a list of people smeared or summarilydismissed from their jobs and of civil society organizations whose funding has been cut or

revoked and of democratic programs defunded or crippled. The nature of Canadian societyhas changed dramatically in the last five years and most of us dont even know about it

because much of the list-making was done behind closed doors.

As we should in all things, lets start with A for Aboriginal

Aboriginal Programs cut or abolishedNotwithstanding Mr Harpers apology to First Nations for over 100 years of the IndianResidential Schools (IRS) system:

Aboriginal Languages Initiativecut from $175 million to $5 million (First Nations were using thisprogram to bring back languages that had been lost or nearly lost due to IRS.)

Aboriginal Healing Foundation (to assist recovery from abuse suffered at IRS)First Nations Child and Family Caring SocietyFirst Nations and Inuit Tobacco Control ProgramNative Womens Association of CanadaSisters in Spirit (the group tracking Native women who have disappeared)

Civil Society

Civil society is the collective name for the non-governmental groups (NGOs) that research

and comment on a host of issues from Aboriginal affairs to zoological diversity. A healthycommunity of NGOs is a vital component of democracy. Every government supports them;

some are even established by government (as Rights and Democracy was by Brian

Mulroney). These organizations and programs have seen their funding cut or disappearedby the Harper Government.

Action travail des femmes

Afghan Association of Ontario, Canada TorontoAlberta Network of Immigrant WomenAlternatives (Quebec)Association fminine dducation et daction sociale (AFEAS)Bloor Information and Life Skills CentreBrampton Neighbourhood Services (Ontario)Canadian Arab FederationCanadian Child Care Federation

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Canadian Council for International Co-operationCanadian Council on LearningCanadian Council on Social DevelopmentCanadian Heritage Centre for Research and Information on CanadaCanadian Human Rights Commission

Canadian International Development Agency, Office of Democratic GovernanceCanadian Labour Business CentreCanada Policy Research NetworksCanadian Research Institute for the Advancement of WomenCanada School of Public ServiceCanadian Teachers' Federation International programCanadian Volunteerism InitiativeCentre de documentation sur lducation des adultes et la condition feminineCentre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA)Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples (Toronto)Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada

Childcare Resource and Research Unit, SpeciaLinkClimate Action NetworkCommunity Access ProgramCommunity Action Resource Centre (CARC)Conseil dintervention pour laccs des femmes au travail (CIAFT)Court Challenges Program (an important avenue to test Charter rights cases)Court Commission of CanadaDavenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre Toronto: (Funding cut by CIC in December 2010).Democracy CouncilDepartment of Foreign Affairs, Democracy UnitElspeth Heyworth Centre for Women TorontoEritrean Canadian Community Centre of Metropolitan TorontoEthiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and Surrounding RegionsFeminists for Just and Equitable Public Policy (FemJEPP) in Nova ScotiaForum of FederationsGlobal Environmental Monitoring SystemHRD Adult Learning and Literacy programsHRD Youth Employment ProgramsHamiltons Settlement and Integration Services Organization (Ontario)Immigrant settlement programsInter-Cultural Neighbourhood Social Services (Peel)International Planned Parenthood FederationKAIROS (main-stream church NGO whose funding was NOT approved by Bev Oda)Law Commission of CanadaMada Al-Carmel Arab CentreMarie Stopes International, a maternal health agencyMATCH InternationalNational Association of Women and the Law (NAWL)New Brunswick Coalition for Pay EquityNorthwood Neighbourhood Services (Toronto: (Funding cut by CIC in December 2010).Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH)

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Ontario Association of Transitional Housing (OAITH)Ontario Coalition for Better Child CareOttawa Chinese Community Services CentrePride TorontoRseau des Tables rgionales de groupes de femmes du Qubec

Riverdale Womens Centre in TorontoRoyal Canadian Mounted Police External Review CommitteeSierra Club of BCSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of CanadaSouth Asian Womens CentreStatistics Canada long-form censusStatus of WomenTropicana Community ServicesWomanspace Resource Centre (Lethbridge, Alberta)Womens Innovative Justice Initiative Nova ScotiaWomens Legal Action and Education Fund

Workplace Equity/Employment Equity ProgramYork South-Weston Community Services Centre Toronto

Watchdogs & Whistleblowers

This list is of individuals who have run afoul of the Harper Government. Some have had

their funding cut back, others quit out of protest, and still others were fired for doing their

jobs too well. Others were smeared and harassed from their careers. In the case of Rmy

Beauregard, his reputation was destroyed during a takeover of the internationally respectedNGO Rights and Democracy. He died of a heart attack at the height of the takeover.

Rmy Beauregard, President, Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights andDemocratic Development)

Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, Director General, Canada Firearms Program (for supporting the long-gunregistry)

Richard Colvin, diplomat, Foreign Affairs (smeared for blowing the whistle on torture of Afghandetainees)

Yves Cot, Ombudsman, Department of National Defence and the Canadian ForcesLinda Keen, Chair, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (fired for closing down the problem-

plagued reactor at Chalk River)Paul Kennedy, Chair, RCMP Police Complaints Commission (critical of how RCMP was handling in-custody deaths)

Adrian Measner, President and CEO, Canadian Wheat Board (criticized Minister Chuck Strahl)Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer (budget cut by $1 millionseveral reports critical of

government estimates of costs for programs, eg, F-35, crime legislation)Sheridan Scott, Commissioner, Competition Bureau (for reviewing, properly, a corporate takeover).Munir Sheikh, Deputy Minister, Statistics Canada (for his support for the long-form census)

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Col. Pat Stogran, the first Veterans Ombudsman (for criticizing how Veterans Affairs handledveterans claims)

Steve Sullivan, Ombudsman, Victims of CrimePeter Tinsley, Chair, Military Police Complaints Commission (for persisting in his mandated review of

the Afghan detainee scandal).

Earl Turcotte, lead negotiator, Mine Action and Small Arms Team, Foreign Affairs (for criticizing thegovernments interpretations of its obligations under the International Convention on ClusterMunitionsland mines).

This list researched and compiled by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Maria

Gergin, April 6, 2011).