Canadian scientists, ambassadors, librarians, MPs, and many more people have been muzzled by the Federal government. Symbolized by swatches of duct tape slapped over thousands of mouths across Canada! These people are not allowed to talk about their work in public or even to express their own opinions. As a result, we, the public, are left in the dark about many things happening in our own country.

 We want to see the duct tape taken off all those mouths, and used properly! The CORRECT use for duct tape is to FIX things. We’d prefer that the government use duct tape, not for muzzling, but to FIX what’s been broken - transparency, informed decision-making, free sharing of information, and environmental security.

 Sign this petition. Show you care by posing with duct tape and sharing photos of how it’s supposed to be used. Post selfies and photos on social media. And if you’re really keen, send actual rolls of duct tape to Ottawa – physical objects rolling in the door are hard to ignore! (Instructions below).

 Help our government fix Canada. Show them the correct uses of duct tape!

 Make your statement with duct tape!

Show the world you want to set information free!

 Share on Social Media

Selfies! Take selfies, and post them to our Facebook page.We will highlight some of the best selfies on our website. Show there are better uses for duct tape than muzzling. Hold rolls of duct tape, make sculptures, wrap hockey sticks. Get creative and build something with duct tape. Share pictures on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and however else you see fit!

 Go a step further: Send actual rolls of duct tape to Ottawa! Physical stuff in the mail is hard to ignore! Nobody can ignore thousands of rolls of duct tape rolling into Ottawa.

To order online try (we found 2 convenient sources, but choose other sources if you prefer! We are open to suggestions):

A. Hooptape Canada

B. Staples Canada

 (Some rolls are less than $5)

 *   Or, peel off your duct tape muzzle and send it to Ottawa. Postage for flat business envelopes is FREE.

 LET'S MAKE THIS AN ELECTION ISSUE!

Envelopes and packages of duct tape should be addressed to:

 (Your recent Member of Parliament)

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada

K1A 0A6

You can find your (recent) MP here.

Sign this petition if you agree Canada needs fixing!

Background

Muzzling restricts the flow of information and freedom, but also prevents alerting the public to environmental and health dangers, or whistle-blowing if something goes wrong. As a result of restrictive communication policies, multiple things are broken – and they all need fixing!

 In addition, many government employees are required to sign life-long "loyalty agreements" – in effect, non-disclosure agreements. Another form of muzzling. This prohibits them from communicating with the public. Ever. Even casual contact with many political representatives is limited.

What’s Broken:

 TOOLS for INFORMED DECISION-MAKING DISAPPEARING

What’s broken: Informed decision-making depends on facts. Without facts, decisions for programs and services are made by estimating, and there’s a good chance they won’t work. The long-form census was nixed, though it was critical to help guide decisions about what sorts of services are needed in which communities. These include social and health services; the needs of elderly, youth and disabled groups; identifying education gaps; economic policies; and much more.

 ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY
What’s broken: Substantial reductions in environmental regulations, regulatory enforcement and research mean less security for our future in terms of having an environment that is safe and livable. Plus, the quiet closure of dozens of science and environmental research labs means there is less information about climate change, and about pollution in land, air and soil, which affects policies that protect human health.

LOSING KNOWLEDGE and HISTORY
What’s broken: 16 federally owned libraries and archives were closed across the nation – a significant loss of history and data on a range of subjects. Some material went back 100 years! Literally tons of historical documents, reports, scientific studies, films and more have been destroyed (some burned!). Without being able to compare things to the past, we can’t know whether we’re improving things or not.
 
See more about us on our website.

Join our Facebook group -- see how other Canadians use duct tape!

 SOURCES:

1. The Harper government's War on Science
(An important chronology going back to 2006)
 
2. Harper Government Shutting Down Science
(Impressive Google map of lab closures across Canada)

3. Federal policies block communication on everything from drugs to climate report

4. Canadian environmental libraries closed down

 Dear Ottawa. If you find you get more rolls of duct tape than you can use to hold our crumbling infrastructure together, or you finish fixing things, consider donating the rest to a place such as Habitat for Humanity, to duct tape artist projects, or other worthy causes.