News Digest - November 1, 2012
Commons approves bill to ban masks during violent protests

 

Canadian Press 31/10/2012 - The private member's legislation, Bill C-309, is the brainchild of Alberta Conservative backbencher Blake Richards. The bill provides a penalty of up to 10 years in prison for anyone convicted of covering their face during a riot or other unlawful assembly. The bill - which won't apply to those attending peaceful protests or demonstrations - passed by a margin of 153-126, with the government in support and the NDP and Liberals opposed. During the Commons debate on the bill, New Democrat MP Charmaine Borg cited civil liberties concerns in opposing the measure. "An individual is not necessarily going to commit a crime just because he or she is wearing a mask at a riot. It is reasonable to think that the person just wants to remain anonymous and protect his or her identity."  

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Mask ban bill passes House of Commons vote 

Biometrics

Jesse Brown on the problems with Canada's new ePassport     

 

Maclean's 31/10/2012 - Forget that Canada's new ePassports come with a hefty price-bump. Forget as well that they glorify a storied Canadian feminist who also happened to be a bizarre racist. The real problem with our new enhanced travel documents lies in their enhancement. Namely, each one includes an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip, a technology traditionally used to track cattle and Walmart goods. RFID passports are notoriously insecure. In 2006, German hackers cloned them. In 2008, a hacker from the group called THC (the hacker's choice) also cracked RFID passports and whipped one up belonging, it seemed, to one Elvis Aaron Presley. The anonymous hacker had it scanned at a self-serve kiosk at the Amsterdam airport.  Sure enough, Elvis lived.         

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New Canadian passports to feature historical images, computer chip and 10-year option 

 

New electronic passports unveiled 

Reflections on lawful access 

 

Law enforcement renews demand for Internet surveillance legislation         


Michael Geist's blog 29/10
/2012 -The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police renewed its call for Internet surveillance legislation on Friday, urging the government to move forward with Bill C-30. The CACP release included a new video and backgrounder. Law enforcement officials now admit that parts of the bill require amendment, yet as David Fraser points out in this detailed post, the reality is that "lawful access" is irretrievably broken.

 

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Immigration and refugee rights 

 

Bill C-43 could mean barring of innocent human rights heroes        


Embassy 31/10
/2012 - By eliminating crucial safeguards, the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act targets people for deportation as 'terrorists' who have never engaged in or espoused violence or terrorism. The overly broad nature of Canada's immigration security provisions is not news-it has been debated and discussed in the legislature and the courts for years. Indeed, it is almost a cliché now to observe that anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and honorary Canadian citizen, could be considered inadmissible under the provisions.

 

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Canadian Council for Refugees' summary of comments on Bill C-43

Rule of law

Remote US base at core of secret operations       

This is the third and last article of the series featured in last week's News Digest


The Washington Post 25/10/2012 - Around the clock, about 16 times a day, drones take off or land at a U.S. military base here, the combat hub for the Obama administration's counter-terrorism wars in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Camp Lemonnier, a sun-baked Third World outpost established by the French Foreign Legion, began as a temporary staging ground for U.S. Marines looking for a foothold in the region a decade ago. Over the past two years, the U.S. military has clandestinely transformed it into the busiest Predator drone base outside the Afghan war zone, a model for fighting a new generation of terrorist groups.

 

 
Clearing the path for future tyranny    

Al Jazeera 31/10/2012 - Regardless of who wins the US elections, Obama's war on civil liberties gives future presidents deadly capability. With Obama facing a tight re-election battle with Mitt Romney, even his supporters - who would normally express alarm at these actions - are reticent to criticise him for fear of damaging his chances and empowering his Republican challenger. However it is important to note that the unprecedented assertions of executive power over the life and death of American citizens during the past four years is an issue that goes far beyond partisan politics and which will have lasting repercussions for the United States after the upcoming election is a distant memory.

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UN Official: Aspects of US drone program clearly 'war crimes'

Imran Khan: Pakistani politician's whirlwind trip to Canada ends with questioning from US officials

Drone attacks render Pakistan's anti-terror efforts ineffective: Malik

Five specific questions journalists should ask about the drone strike policy

Video: "The new war of Obama" - A news report from Une heure sur terre (Radio-Canada)

Surveillance 

 

At US Supreme Court, challengers to wiretap law say its secrecy creates a Catch-22         


The Washington Post 29/10/2012 - Several Supreme Court justices expressed concern Monday that lawyers, journalists and human rights researchers who think they are caught up in a sweeping federal surveillance law may never be able to challenge the law in court. Those contesting Congress's 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) say they are in a Catch-22: The government says they cannot challenge the law unless they can show that their communications are under surveillance, but such information is strictly secret.

 

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Rendition  

 

UK supreme court says rendition of Pakistani man was unlawful          


 The Guardian 31/10/2012 - Human rights campaigners have called for a full criminal investigation into the rendition of a Pakistani man by UK and US forces to Afghanistan, following a supreme court judgment describing his subsequent detention at the notorious US prison at Bagram as unlawful. Yunus Rahmatullah has been imprisoned ever since he was handed over by the SAS to American forces in Iraq in 2004, and has never been charged.

 

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More news
Antiterrorism laws     

Criminalization of dissent  

Humanitarian charities and terrorism    

National security  

No-fly lists 

Privacy  

Surveillance   

Terrorism   

War on terror 

 

About us

 

The ICLMG is a national coalition of forty Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. You will find in this News Digest news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, civil liberties and other issues related to the mandate and concerns of ICLMG and its member organizations.



News from ICLMG
 
Bill C-42: ICLMG appeared before the Parliamentary Committee last week

Warren Allmand, ICLMG's spokeperson on Bill C-42, has appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) on Wednesday October 24, 2012. Mr Allmand has argued that Bill C-42, Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, which aims to modify the existing surveillance mechanism for the RCMP, is incomplete, does not provide sufficient independence and autonomy from the RCMP and does not respect the recommendations made by Justice O'Connor during the Arar Commission.

It is worth noting that ICLMG is concerned by the expediency of the procedure and by the Conservatives limiting the number of witnesses. As a result, the SECU did not hear important witnesses such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, and Shirley Heafey, a former RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner. Ms. Heafey resigned from her position stating she did not have sufficient autonomy and power to monitor the RCMP. She also believes that Bill C-42 does not provide the tools for a proper oversight of the RCMP.
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Mexico: Activist leader and wife killed 

An environmental activist leader and his wife have been killed in Chihuahua state, northern Mexico. This event follows a pattern of death threats and there are fears for the security of other members of the family and other leaders of the activists' organization. Ismael and his son were assaulted on October 13, 2012 by a group of employees paid by the El Cascabel mining company which is a closely related entity to Vancouver-based mining company MAG Silver and a central player in the development of MAG Silver's 100% owned Cinco de Mayo mine project. 

 

 


Call for proposals 

 

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