Civil and Democratic rights

The long road to LGBTIQ equality: Next step – defeat Harper!

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Pride 2015 Statement from the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League

The annual Pride summer season is here, with hundreds of activities in major cities and small towns across the country. The Communist Party of Canada extends warm solidarity to the LGBTIQ community and allies, and urges voters to dump the anti-equality Harper Conservatives in the coming federal election.

Huge legal, political and cultural victories for basic LGBTIQ rights have been achieved since the first Pride parades, thanks to decades of efforts by the LGBTIQ community and our allies. Internationally, more countries are recognizing fundamental equality rights, as seen in the recent Irish marriage referendum.

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Reconciliation means acknowledging genocide and taking action to end colonialism

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Resolution adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, June 13-14, 2015, Toronto

The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Justice Murray Sinclair is an important milestone in the struggle to achieve reconciliation and to overcome the legacy of racist colonial policies imposed upon Aboriginal peoples by the European imperialist powers and later by the Canadian capitalist state. The Communist Party of Canada welcomes the TRC report and pledges our support for its 94 recommendations, which would be a significant step towards full equality, and social justice for Aboriginal peoples. We also express full support for demands to extend the truth and reconciliation process to include the impact of the “day schools” attended by thousands of Metis and First Nations children.

As the summary report of the TRC states:

For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as “cultural genocide.”

This conclusion is firmly based on the facts and on international law, which recognizes several categories of genocide, including the mass killing of members of a targeted group (physical genocide); and destruction of structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group (cultural genocide).

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CPC running over twenty candidates in federal election

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From People’s Voice newspaper

Meeting over the June 13-14 weekend in Toronto, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada reviewed a recent upsurge of membership recruiting, and stepped up plans for the federal election expected on October 19. The CC meeting also set the ball rolling for the party’s 38th Central Convention, planned for May 2016.
CPC leader Miguel Figueroa opened the gathering with a wide-ranging report on the international situation, and on political developments in Canada.

Figueroa warned that “the main feature today is the dramatic escalation in militarism and the drive to war by U.S. imperialism and its allies… by growing interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, and by outright intervention to overturn states and governments perceived to be hostile to its regional or global interests…. (and by) an all-sided offensive to roll back the social and economic gains of the working class and working people generally, and sharpened attacks on labour, democratic and civil rights.”

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Confronting racism and facism

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Seemingly unconnected events sometimes reveal patterns which are not immediately obvious. One such pattern is the re-emergence of racist and fascist ideas which had been consigned to history.

South of the border, the mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston – the historic church of slave revolt hero Denmark Vesey – was not the act of a disturbed individual. The killer openly upheld the centuries-long “tradition” of white supremacy, which includes countless murders, rapes, lynchings and police killings against Black Americans. The Civil War victory over the southern slavocrats was not enough to root out their inhuman ideology, which survives in a modern United States where corporate profits are boosted by the exploitation and oppression of racialized minorities.

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Celebrate Pride, defeat Harper!

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People’s Voice Editorial

As the summer season of LBGTTQ+ Pride events kicks off, People’s Voice sends warm greetings to all those taking part in celebrations, parades, picnics and other activities over the next few months.

Many historic legal, political and cultural victories for equality rights have been gained since the first Pride parades were held. And more progress is being achieved around the world, as seen in the recent Irish referendum on same-sex marriage rights. Another breakthrough over the past year has been the growing movement to end all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender expression/identity, such as the welcome action by many School Boards to make schools safer and more welcoming for trans* students.

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Video: the Political Conditions of Bill C-51

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Miguel Figueroa, Leader of the Communist Party of Canada, discusses the larger political context of Bill C-51 and other ‘anti-terror’ legislation around the world and its relationship to the ongoing crisis of capitalism.

This talk was recorded in March 2015, in Edmonton, Alberta and was part of a coast-to-coast multi-city tour against Bill C-51 by the Communist Party of Canada in March and April which visited Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, Kamloops, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Guelph, London, Montreal, Westville and Halifax.

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70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi-fascism

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Joint Resolution adopted by Communist and Workers’ Parties, May, 2015

The liberation of Berlin by Soviet troops in May of 1945 marks the victory of the peoples in World War II and the defeat of Nazi-fascism – the most violent form of class domination generated by capitalism and the direct cause of the war and of the death of tens of millions of human beings.

The decisive role in the victory of May 9, 1945 was played by the Soviet Union, its people and Red Army, under the leadership of its Communist Party. It was on the Eastern Front that the major battles which determined the outcome of World War II were fought. To mark the 70th anniversary of the Victory is to recall and celebrate the heroism, the courage and determination of millions of Soviet men and women who, at the cost of enormous sacrifice and of over 27 million dead, resisted and fought, giving a decisive contribution to the defeat of the Nazi-fascist barbarity. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Victory is to remember and praise the heroism, courage and determination of millions of other resistance fighters and anti-fascist strugglers from all over the world who dedicated and committed their lives to the struggle for Victory.

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Communists running in Alberta election

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Commentary by Naomi Rankin, leader of the Communist Party-Alberta

Visit the CP-Alberta election site at: www.communistparty-alberta.ca
It’s springtime and a whiff of change is in the air. For the first time in 44 years, the outcome of an Alberta provincial election is not a foregone conclusion. The Tory dynasty has survived in part by casting each new leader as a change, asking for and receiving a fresh start from the voters, setting aside the failed promises and accumulating scandals of the previous leader’s regime. Jim Prentice, recently elected as Tory leader and therefore premier, to replace the scandal-plagued Alison Redford, seems to have worn out his newness and freshness with remarkable speed. Some polls show the Tories behind the Wildrose and the surging NDP.

Of course, polls of decided voters don’t tell us what will be done by undecided voters. Loyal Conservatives who were polled may have claimed to support other parties as their only avenue to express frustration with their own party before finally voting as always. And a province gerrymandered to give disproportionate power to rural ridings, in addition to all the usual problems with the first-past-the-post system, could still give a substantial majority to the Conservatives even with a dwindling minority of the popular vote. An NDP sweep of Edmonton might be thwarted by the far-right Wildrose failing to run candidates in several key ridings, which could presumably give the combined Tory/Wildrose vote the majority.

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Still no alternative: Scrap Bill C-51

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Visit our stop C-51 website

Growing public pressure has compelled the Harper Conservative government to make a handful of minor amendments to Bill C-51, while rejecting all changes proposed by the opposition parties in Parliament. This tactical retreat shows that further mass opposition outside Parliament can help slow the anti-democratic and pro-war “security state” agenda of this government. The Communist Party of Canada maintains that these amendments are completely inadequate, and that Bill C-51 remains fundamentally flawed and must be scrapped.

Until now, the Conservatives had denied any need to modify C-51. Clearly they did not expect such an impressive range of public opposition, including from significant parts of the ruling class who are uncomfortable with the Conservatives’ sharp shift towards authoritarianism.

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After a successful day of action — keep up the struggle to stop Bill C-51!

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Visit our stop Bill C-51 website!

Following last Saturday’s successful day of action against the Harper Conservative’s “police state” Bill C-51, the Communist Party of Canada is calling for continued united action to block and defeat the proposed legislation. Over 75 actions, from Halifax to Victoria to Yellowknife, took place drawing many thousands into the streets at marches and rallies.

“Every single day that passes, more and more people are coming out against Bill C-51”, Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada told the Winnipeg rally. “Notwithstanding the Conservatives’ bravado, they are scared,” he said, noting the breadth of opposition to C-51.

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