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Bill to restore expired anti-terrorism laws debated
CBC News 16/10/2012 - Parliament began debate Monday on two anti-terrorism provisions that were never used and expired five years ago. It's also looking at new  measures to deter acts of terrorism. One of the controversial measures compels a suspect believed to have information relating to a terrorist offence to undergo an investigative hearing before a judge, without being charged with any offence. Another measure allows an individual to be preventively arrested without charge and then placed on recognizance, in which he or she would have to agree to certain conditions for up to 12 months. Police have never resorted to either of these two measures. The cases of the Toronto 18, as well as Mohammed Momin Khawaja and three terrorist suspects in Ottawa were all dealt with using the Criminal Code, which has an extensive terrorism section.
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Surveillance
Canada's Spy Groups Divulge Secret Intelligence to Energy Companies
The Dominion 10/10/2012 -  The Canadian government has been orchestrating briefings that provide energy companies with classified intelligence from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP and other agencies, raising concerns that federal officials are spying on environmentalists and First Nations in order to provide information to the businesses they criticize. "I see a worrying trend of blurring the lines between government security apparatus and the private sector," said Keith Stewart, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. "What we are seeing is government working at the behest of these big multinational corporations, rather than seeing themselves as a regulator of those companies in the public interest."
Read more
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National Security
No need to name names of those threatening Canadian cyber security, Toews says
Ottawa Citizen 17/10/2012 - The federal government is concerned about its own cyber securit  y, but the public safety minister refused to say Wednesday where the potential threats are coming from. While the U.S. and other countries have publicly called out Chinese-owned firms as being among the dangers, Vic Toews said he sees no reason to name names - at least right now. Toews made the remarks as he announced a further $155 million over five years to reinforce the federal government's infrastructure and networks to better protect against cyber threats.
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Rule of Law
Open courts principle at issue in suppressed decision over secret RCMP protocol
The Ottawa Citizen 15/10/2012 -  In what one legal expert calls an "extraordinary" move with implications for the principle of open courts, a Federal Court decision has been suppressed for nearly three months because government lawyers argue it contains too much information about a secret protocol between the RCMP and Justice Canada. The protocol, lugubriously entitled "Principles to Implement Legal Advice on the Listing and Inspection of RCMP documents in Civil Litigation," allegedly sets out procedures for access by Justice Canada lawyers to evidence obtained by the RCMP in criminal investigations that may be relevant in civil litigation involving the federal government.
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When a drone flies over Waziristan, does it make a sound?
Truthout 17/10/2012 - There are a lot of people who say that they support the current policy of drone strikes. It doesn't seem likely that  much of this support is based on a careful weighing of the evidence: until now, the government hasn't produced any evidence in support of its key claims in defense of the policy, such as its claim that civilian deaths have been "exceedingly rare," or its claim that the drone strikes are narrowly targeted on top level terrorist leaders. So it's not clear what evidence drone strike supporters would have been weighing to make their judgment. Rather, it seems more likely that support of the current drone strike policy is based on convenient belief. It's convenient to believe that the drone strike policy is narrowly targeted on top-level terrorist leaders and has killed few civilians, because the alternative belief, that our government has cavalierly killed many innocent civilians for no good reason, is pretty awful to contemplate.
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US drone kills al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen
Meet Ayoub: The Muslim drone
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Omar Khadr
US court ruling casts doubt on Omar Khadr's war crimes
The Canadian Press 17/10/2012 -  A new American court ruling in favour of Osama bin Laden's driver has cast doubt on the validity of Omar Khadr's war crimes convictions, legal experts said Wednesday. Even so, they said, several factors make it essentially impossible for Khadr to have his convictions before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay set aside. Those factors include his guilty pleas, his waiver of his appeal rights, and the murky legal nature of his most serious crime: murder in violation of the law of war. However, the ruling could potentially help him win parole in Canada. Read moreUS - Appeals Court overturns terrorism conviction of Bin Laden's driverIf detained abroad, would Canada defend you?
Commentary by Irwin Cotler The Huffington Post 18/10/2012 - The recent repatriation of Omar Khadr has demonstrated yet again  that serious concerns remain about Canada's approach when its citizens are detained abroad. The rights of too many Canadians have been or continue to be violated in foreign countries, and Canadian governments have regrettably been inconsistent defenders of those rights. In order to ensure that the rights of Canadians are respected by their own government on a consistent basis, I have introduced and re-introduced legislation in the House of Commons, the Protecting Canadians Abroad Act (C-359). This first-of-its-kind bill would set out rights and obligations -- including rights to consular access, consular visits and repatriation -- for Canadians detained, disappeared or captured in another country, and would establish reporting requirements for Canadian officials who believe that a Canadian detainee has been tortured. Further, it would obligate the government to request repatriation when there are reasonable grounds to suspect torture, cruel or unusual punishment, or arbitrary detention. Read more |
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Guantanamo
Transparency, torture and rats: the 9/11 hearings resume
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Access to information
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Anti-terrorism laws
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Border security
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Criminalization of dissent
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Drones
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No Fly Lists
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Rule of law
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War on terror
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News from ICLMG
Bill C-42: ICLMG to appear before the Parliamentary Committee next week
Warren Allmand, ICLMG's spokeperson on Bill C-42, will appear before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Wednesday October 24, 2012. Mr Allmand will argue that Bill C-42, Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, which aim to modify the existing surveillance mechanism for the RCMP, is incomplete, does not provide sufficient independance and autonomy from the RCMP and does not respect the recommandations made by Justice O'Connor during the Arar Commission.
Read Bill C-42
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Events
Five Years after Charkaoui v. Canada: The Constitutionality and Impact of Security Certificates
October 19, 2012
5:00pm to 7:00pm
Fauteux room 147
57 Louis Pasteur
Ottawa University
with:
Sophie Harkat
Mohammad Mahjoub
Yavar Hameed
Barbara Jackman
Leo Russomanno
Facebook event
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The Social Cost of National Security: Assessing the impact of global counter-terrorism initiatives on Canadian society
Organized by the Canadian Arab Institute and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
October 19, 2012
9am-5am
University of Toronto
Register here!
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Books
Terminator Planet The first history of drone warfare 2001-2050
By Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse - For many Americans, drones seem like a distant concern. However, their potential for blowback as their technology becomes available to other nations - and likely terrorist groups - may have a profound impact on making the planet less secure in the coming years.
Read Truthout interview with a co-author here
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Secret Service: Political Policing in Canada from the Fenians to Fortress America
By Reg Whitaker et al. - The book is a more-or-less chronological study of the ways the Canadian (and late Imperial) government used law enforcement and other agents to counter political threats-real and imagined, physical and philosophical.
Read Prism Magazine review of the book here
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Traitor: The Whistleblower and the "American Taliban"
By Jesselyn Radack - This is a book about a Jewish victim of 9/11. She was not persecuted because of her faith. Rather, she was hounded when she, as a government-employed lawyer, told the government that it was breaking the law.
Read Prism Magazine review of the book here
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Starting Monday, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged September 11 co-conspirators are scheduled to appear in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom for hearings on a slew of key questions related to their upcoming trial -- again. Among the issues scheduled for argument are whether the public has a right to know what happened to the men over years in secret CIA "black sites" and whether the U.S. Constitution applies at Guantanamo Bay. But before the legal arguments get underway, we first need to find out if the government managed to exterminate the rats and mold that had infested the Gitmo defense counsels' office.
