Over 400,000 Canadians have signed a petition against the CRTC ruling of Internet billing, which would allow Internet providers to charge smaller companies for bandwidth usage.  This would eliminate unlimited Internet service for customers.

The retaliation from Canadians has been immense. Besides the petition itself, comments from people on online articles have called the ruling a “cash grab” and expressed frustration with both the CRTC and Internet providers for being greedy.

It’s almost inevitable that the CRTC will reverse the decision because if it doesn’t, the federal government will surely make them. The good that does come out of this is the reminder that as citizens, we still have a voice we are allowed to speak up with.

And if you think for a moment that the over 400,000 people weren’t listened to, consider this: Would the CRTC have actually reviewed the decision had no one spoken up or started the petition?

We tend to fade in and out of our own lives and lose the ambition to speak up when we feel strongly about something.

Back in 2010, the 2007 pardon of convicted sex offender Graham James caused an uproar as well. It prompted over 2,000 people to sign a petition to tell the government to revoke the pardon and change the parole laws for serious offenders.

The first half of Bill C23 was passed in June 2010, days before serial killer Karla Homolka was eligible to apply for a pardon.

It’s easy to sit back and say that even if you do speak up, you assume you won’t get heard anyways. But both of these instances were started when someone felt strongly enough about these issues to stand up for them.  

Sitting back and saying simply nothing means that not only will you never be heard, the things you want to see changed will likely never change. Everyone has a voice for a reason. Use it fearlessly.