Masala Canada - Saturday, December 10th 2011

Conversations with Chantal Bernier, Sukanya Pillay, Peter St. John and Mita Naidu

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA - days after Canada’s Prime Minster Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama announced an agreement to control the flow of goods and people between Canada and the United States, we talk to a number of people about the privacy, civil liberty, and security issues raised by this agreement. This North American security perimeter deal will share huge amounts of information on citizens of each of our countries.

Canada’s Assistant Privacy Commissioner Chantal Bernier talks about some of the privacy issues the Office of the Privacy Commissioner will be examining, as the details of this agreement are elaborated.

Even before this new Canadian-American deal was announced, civil liberty questions were raised by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association along with the American Civil Liberties Union. Sukanya Pillay is the Director of the National Security Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

So if the security perimeter agreement will allow for the sharing of lots more information, will we be safer in Canada and the United States? That’s what I asked Peter St. John, a retired professor of international relations who teaches at Canada’s University of Manitoba and elsewhere. He is an intelligence and terrorism expert, and the author of the 1991 book, “Air Piracy, Airport Security, and International Terrorism”.

And finally, a fascinating conversation with multi-talented Vancouver fashion designer Mita Naidu. She’s the founder of Lotus Eye, and has created an edgy mix of Indian and western styles which is making inroads into mainstream Canada.

WEB LINKS:

Privacy Commissioner of Canada – www.priv.gc.ca

Canadian Civil Liberties Association – www.ccla.org

Peter St. John info -  here

Mita Naidu’s Lotus Eye on Facebook – here

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