While they erase, they tell the rest of us it’s about “security” or “efficiency” or “tradition.”
But what it’s really about is reminding us who gets to exist with dignity and who doesn’t.
It’s about telling the working class: stay in line, pick a side, and don’t question the system.
Because if you do, you’re next.
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When the Carney government quietly falls in line behind a pathetic U.S. executive order, erasing non-binary identity from cross-border documentation like Nexus, this isn’t about bureaucratic compliance or legislative cowardice. It’s about the gesture. The spectacle.
Because this isn’t about policy. It’s about managing perception, reinforcing power, and letting marginalized people take the hit so that capital can proceed unbothered.
It’s a perfect move for those in power. It costs them nothing, and it stirs up just enough outrage to keep people arguing about identity instead of asking who benefits, who profits, and who stays in power.
Qui bono?
Make no mistake. The impact on real people is sharp and immediate. But the policy itself is performative. A disposable decree that changes nothing for the ruling class while reinforcing all the right narratives:
That trade matters more than lives
That dissent is dangerous
That people who don’t fit neatly into categories should sit down and stay quiet
That security requires obedience
That bureaucracy is neutral
And what do we get? A news cycle. Drama. Distraction.
Meanwhile, the corporate class keeps its fast lane, and the rest of us are told once again that justice must wait.
That dignity is too expensive.
And that now is not the time.
Yes, two immigration lawyers called it out. That's the whole "balanced" spin of this news story. But we know how this plays out.
There will be no meaningful protest. No parliamentary challenge. No organized resistance.
Not because people don't care, but because they are meant to feel like it’s not worth it.
That’s the brilliance of the design: make the cruelty look like a clerical adjustment, and make the outrage look like noise.
That’s what’s cowardly. Not just the policy, but the architecture of silence that surrounds it. The way it hits hardest while pretending to be minor.
The way it disappears people while hiding behind procedure.
Lock in now.
See through the performance.
Name it for what it is: a sad tool of control, not governance.
Refuse the narrative that says this is about practicality. It’s about power.
And when they use bureaucracy to erase people, to divide workers, to distract us with outrage while they profit in peace, call it what it is.
Not a glitch.
Not a mistake.
But a perfectly executed, chicken-shit move by a system that survives by keeping us compliant, divided, and fighting for scraps while it feasts.
Silence is not neutral.
In moments like this, silence sides with power.
And centrist complicity makes the system feel normal as it erases, excludes, and harms.
Andrew Zajac is a healthcare professional, diatonic harmonica customizer, committed opponent of privilege, and hopelessly foulmouthed advocate for meaningful change.