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LETTER: Giving up our rights is not the solution

Moves to ‘keep us safe’ are eroding our constitutional rights
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The emergency measures that are being proposed and methodically installed to “keep us safe” from the current virus scare are increasing eroding our constitutional rights.

Media spokes-people don’t even bat an eye as they describe all the new surveillance that will have to be part of our lives. We have grown complacent, even accepting, of the fact the telecom companies record and store every speck of our communication data under orders from our government. We are also becoming aware that this surveillance can now extend to our personal movements in real time, through tracking of our personal communication devices. Every breath you take, every move you make…

Do laws of privacy, due process of law, and the process of consulting of the public no longer apply? Real time tracking of my movement through cell phone data and facial recognition technology, border checks, and police or military on the streets checking papers are elements of a technological take-over of Canadians’ rights and freedoms. I’m watching our relatively free Canadian society embrace the traits of tyranny that my father, a D Day veteran, fought to remove from the world forever.

We have a medical problem, but giving up my rights to government control is not the solution. Open discussion with constituents will provide direction for our political representatives for the current and any future situation that threatens Canadians.

Gary Raddysh

Chilliwack

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