Lawful but awful (state edition)

Thursday was the third of the REEL Politics film screenings, this one of a film I’d not only never seen, but didn’t know existed: Les ordres, by Michel Brault.

Les ordres draws on interviews with around fifty of the people detained during the invocation of the War Measures Act in October 1970, creating five fictionalized characters based on the real events. It’s deftly done, a movie that opening panelist Gabrielle Tremblay described as one that takes its times with the characters, giving you a taste for their ordinary lives before they’re so suddenly upended, without reason or recourse.

Though I’ve long been aware of, and even studied, the October Crisis, Brault’s film gave it a completely different character. Not as some heady conflict between the state and the FLQ, but as an unnecessary and disproportionate crackdown on ordinary people, carried out by police officials newly empowered with near unlimited power. In this world, people had no rights, and the awful became lawful. Escaping through the magic of cinema into that world for a few hours was enough to deeply unsettle me—to infuriate me, even.

Les ordres is a film on the importance of fundamental rights and of laws limiting state power. Eleven years after the October Crisis, its invoker emerged successfully from a First Ministers’ conference with general agreement—excluding Québec—to introduce the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of an amended Canadian constitution. Crucially, agreement from some provinces was conditional on the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause, a legal means to set aside the protections otherwise promised by the Charter (promised, subject to reasonable limits—love this country [genuinely!])—to make lawful what would otherwise be unlawful limitations on rights.

Some forty-four years later, we now find the notwithstanding clause increasingly used, proactively and reactively. It will be debated at the Supreme Court in March. We also find governments increasing funding to security organizations while reducing funding to their watchdogs. Or introducing broad regulatory exemptions with unclear justification. (Robson also draws the connection to Les ordres—REEL Politics brings all the cool folks to the Bytowne Cinema!)

These are all lawful means to reduce or set aside rights and other protections in law. I alluded earlier to “lawful but awful”, often used to describe private speech that, while awful, is protected from government action. But as Les ordres so chillingly demonstrates, the consequences of “lawful but awful” at the hands of the state can be even more devastating—particularly so when those laws can stand only by undoing protections otherwise seen as sacrosanct.

Les ordres is available to stream from Télé-Québec, with French subtitles. I’m not sure if a version with English subtitles exists online, but it’s well worth a watch if you can keep up with French.

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Shakes head, okay, back to the ordinary.

• Austin Kleon’s newsletter this week, “Too dark, too early” is on the nose in so many ways. Almost every entry has left me thinking. (I’ve long tried to embrace the advice to “deal with problems in daylight”—harder when there’s much less daylight, but still wise.)
• “Connectivity” is different than actual connection—a nuance social networks are happy to overlook.
• Bob Rae is recently retired from his role as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN. He’s now writing publicly more often, most recently an analysis of Trump’s new “National Security Strategy”. Puts it in context well.
• There’s been a long-running joke that Doug Ford’s actions can often be read as “wanted to be mayor of Toronto, became premier of Ontario instead”. Cutting down Toronto’s city council (while preparations for the 2018 municipal elections were already underway!) is one example of that. But lately, his preferred approach seems to be to take issue with something in Toronto (e.g., bike lanes or speed cameras), then legislate his preferred solution for the entire province. This shows up multiple ways in Ottawa, a steady reduction of local authority.
• It’s been a long time since I built a computer, but Gina Trapani’s excitement over a recent build brings back great memories.
• Duncan Ellinwood’s chairs and stools playfully push the boundaries of established designs. My favourite part of his most recent high stool is the seat—look at those lines!!

All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas