henric
03-06-2012, 01:35 PM
05/03/2012 8:30:00 AM
by Nevil Hunt
Our federal security service thinks it's OK to show up unannounced at citizen's workplaces. In reality, it's an attempt to bully people into talking.
Knock, knock.
Canada's spy agency has to send agents out to talk to people, and that means knocking on doors, sometimes without an appointment.
It's a very different situation, however, when a Canadian citizen tells CSIS they don't want to talk, but agents show up at their workplace.
The surprise visits are clearly an attempt to intimidate people into talking. CSIS calls it a "legitimate investigative strategy."
A news report says CSIS received a complaint after a Canadian woman with a Middle Eastern background was pestered by agents.
They arrived at her home unannounced on two occasions, and then returned for a scheduled visit. When she told them she didn't want to talk to them any more, they called her at work and then arrived at her office without an appointment.
If the woman in question wasn't a Canadian citizen, these visits could certainly be considered reasonable. If maintaining Canada's security requires an investigation by CSIS agents, and a non-citizen feels upset, that's a fair trade.
But every Canadian citizen has the right to turn down a discussion with CSIS. That's part and parcel of living in a free country.
So why would agents come knocking at a citizen's workplace?
It's obvious that when the agents identify who they are and who they want to speak with, the person they ask for will feel their job and reputation is at risk. They will worry what their boss will think and how their co-workers will react.
Even if the agents are polite and tactful, they know exactly how the visit is really making the employee feel. And the emotion that stirs up is part of a system of intimidation.
Few of us have ever had to deal with a similar situation, but maybe we could all imagine for a moment how an unwanted visit might make us feel at our workplace. It could be a bill collector, a jilted lover, an angry neighbour or a CSIS agent, but in any case, your first reaction would likely be to try and defuse the situation.
If the person in the reception area is a CSIS agent, you can get rid of them by making an appointment to speak with them later, away from work. Which proves that the work visit is a form of bullying; the CSIS agents use the fear of job loss to get what they want. So much for the freedom to choose whom you speak with.
Then consider that for every workplace visit that results in a valuable meeting later (from CSIS's point of view), there must be other times when the person being pressured really has nothing of value to share. In those cases, intimidation and the fear of losing one's job will have been used for no result at all.
Maybe someone should send a stripper to CSIS director Richard B. Fadden's office. Then he can spend some time explaining the situation to his co-workers and maybe a federal minister.
Should CSIS agents make unannounced visits to the workplaces of Canadian citizens? Should Canadians ever be pressured to talk to CSIS?
by Nevil Hunt
Our federal security service thinks it's OK to show up unannounced at citizen's workplaces. In reality, it's an attempt to bully people into talking.
Knock, knock.
Canada's spy agency has to send agents out to talk to people, and that means knocking on doors, sometimes without an appointment.
It's a very different situation, however, when a Canadian citizen tells CSIS they don't want to talk, but agents show up at their workplace.
The surprise visits are clearly an attempt to intimidate people into talking. CSIS calls it a "legitimate investigative strategy."
A news report says CSIS received a complaint after a Canadian woman with a Middle Eastern background was pestered by agents.
They arrived at her home unannounced on two occasions, and then returned for a scheduled visit. When she told them she didn't want to talk to them any more, they called her at work and then arrived at her office without an appointment.
If the woman in question wasn't a Canadian citizen, these visits could certainly be considered reasonable. If maintaining Canada's security requires an investigation by CSIS agents, and a non-citizen feels upset, that's a fair trade.
But every Canadian citizen has the right to turn down a discussion with CSIS. That's part and parcel of living in a free country.
So why would agents come knocking at a citizen's workplace?
It's obvious that when the agents identify who they are and who they want to speak with, the person they ask for will feel their job and reputation is at risk. They will worry what their boss will think and how their co-workers will react.
Even if the agents are polite and tactful, they know exactly how the visit is really making the employee feel. And the emotion that stirs up is part of a system of intimidation.
Few of us have ever had to deal with a similar situation, but maybe we could all imagine for a moment how an unwanted visit might make us feel at our workplace. It could be a bill collector, a jilted lover, an angry neighbour or a CSIS agent, but in any case, your first reaction would likely be to try and defuse the situation.
If the person in the reception area is a CSIS agent, you can get rid of them by making an appointment to speak with them later, away from work. Which proves that the work visit is a form of bullying; the CSIS agents use the fear of job loss to get what they want. So much for the freedom to choose whom you speak with.
Then consider that for every workplace visit that results in a valuable meeting later (from CSIS's point of view), there must be other times when the person being pressured really has nothing of value to share. In those cases, intimidation and the fear of losing one's job will have been used for no result at all.
Maybe someone should send a stripper to CSIS director Richard B. Fadden's office. Then he can spend some time explaining the situation to his co-workers and maybe a federal minister.
Should CSIS agents make unannounced visits to the workplaces of Canadian citizens? Should Canadians ever be pressured to talk to CSIS?