Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has always been at the forefront of speaking up for those who have been oppressed. We recognise the interconnectivity of the countries of Europe and the world at large and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We have had calls in this House to address serious human rights abuses occurring in all places over the world, from China in the East, to here in the West, and addressing the issues in our own country as well.I find it odd that we have heard nothing of the well publicised, high profile, peaceful protest that is being violently suppressed and dispersed by armed government forces. Ranks of uniformed and armoured military figures, stripped of their badges and identification tags, converged on protestors, an officer on horseback trampled over a disabled woman, approximately 200 arrests were made and over 60 vehicles were seized by the state. This sounds like something we would hear about in regard to Russia or actions which we would condemn in Hungary or Poland but instead this is happening in the supposedly liberal democracy of Canada and no condemnation has been forthcoming.

To legally permit the level of force, Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act 1988, the first time this Act has been evoked since it replaced the War Measures Act 1914. Not being satisfied with merely dispersing protestors, the state froze the finances associated with certain individuals and companies believed to be involved in the protests. These are people who committed no crime and have not been convicted lawfully in court but who the Government decided to punish because they might have been connected with a protest that was inconvenient to the government. It was an unprecedented act by the state against its citizens, which should be roundly condemned.

I call on the Leader to write to the Canadian ambassador, H.E. Ms Nancy Smyth, condemning the excessive force used by the government on the overreach that is happening there to its citizens. Authoritarianism is a threat to democracy no matter whose foot the boot is on.