When Rosa Parks, a tailor’s assistant, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Ala., on Dec. 1, 1955, she was both breaking the law and engaging in civil disobedience. Her act led to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court the following year that such segregation was illegal.
Brigette DePape’s breaking of the rules governing the behaviour of the staff of Parliament was not civil disobedience. She was not protesting a specific law or policy. She was simply objecting to the results of a democratic nationwide election in which she, along with every other citizen 18 years or older, was entitled to vote.
Page’s protest sets poor precedent
I would add, she wasn’t just entitled to vote, but also to run in the election, to share her views that way — where she’d have an opportunity to listen and consult with a broader range of Canadian voters, to have a dialog about ways to reconcile differences and work together, etc…
If the problem with Harper is that he’s too autocratic and doesn’t listen to the wishes of Canadians, then disrupting a democratic process (such as it is) in this totally unilateral way would not represent the right sort of habit for future leaders to have.
