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Revue de l'actualit� - News Digest 
5 f�vrier 2015 - February 5, 2015
L�gislation antiterroriste
Anti-terror laws 


Ottawa 30/01/2015 - La Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libert�s civiles (CSILC) est profond�ment pr�occup�e par certaines dispositions du projet de loi anti-terrorisme d�pos� � la Chambre de Communes vendredi par le gouvernement Harper, y compris: l'abaissement du seuil permettant
les arrestations pr�ventives et l'imposition d'engagements assortis de conditions, ainsi que l'extension de la dur�e de ces engagements; l'�largissement des crit�res permettant l'interdiction de monter � bord d'un avion, sans exigence de mandat judiciaire; et l'introduction d'une nouvelle disposition qui criminalise le fait de 'pr�coniser' ou 'fomenter' une activit� terroriste. 

  

Anti-terrorism powers: What's in the legislation?

Globe editorial: Parliament must reject Harper's secret policeman bill

Globe and Mail
01/02/2015 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper never tires of telling Canadians that we are at war with the Islamic State. Under the cloud of fear produced by his repeated hyperbole about the scope and nature of the threat, he now wants to turn our domestic spy agency into something that looks disturbingly like a secret police force. Canadians should not be willing to accept such an obvious threat to their basic liberties. Our existing laws and our society are strong enough to stand up to the threat of terrorism without compromising our values. [...] Parliament must not allow Mr. Harper to turn CSIS, an intelligence agency, into a secret police force. Intelligence-gathering was deliberately separated from police work 30 years ago, after the RCMP's repeated breaches of the law and civil rights. A wise decision was made to keep police out of the spy business, and spies out of policing. CSIS was the outcome, but successive governments, including Mr. Harper's, have not demonstrated enough seriousness about overseeing the agency's activities and protecting Canadians' privacy.And now CSIS agents are being offered police-like powers. This unwelcome idea is being pushed by the fearmongering of a campaigning Prime Minister. Yes, Islamic State is a menace. But the danger terrorism poses is not only one of violence; its mere threat can distort the way we live and think. On that score, terrorism will have been all too effective in Canada if this bill is adopted as is.

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Canada's new backward-looking terror law: Walkom

The Toronto Star 30/01/2015 -
Stephen Harper's new anti-terror bill is tough, backward-looking and almost certainly unnecessary. Bill C-51 would allow a judge to impose up to a year of house arrest on someone who has neither been convicted nor charged with any crime. The judge could also require that the target wear an electronic bracelet. The only requirement in the bill, introduced Friday in the Commons, is that police produce satisfactory evidence this person "may" commit a terrorist offence. [...] The bill would also authorize the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to engage in illegal acts and so-called dirty tricks. That's the backward-looking part. In 1984, CSIS was created specifically to get Canadian spooks out of the dirty-tricks business. Before that time, security had been the purview of the RCMP which, as a 1981 royal commission found, routinely broke the law in its war against those it deemed dangerous radicals. In one famous incident, the Mounties burned down a barn in order to prevent a planned meeting of Quebec separatists. [...] In those far-off days, most Canadians thought that it made little sense to have officers sworn to uphold the law break it. That theory, it seems, is no longer in vogue. Bill C-51 explicitly  gives CSIS the right to contravene both the law and the Constitution's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The only requirement faced by the agency is that it obtain judicial warrants before acting - a condition that shouldn't be too onerous [...] The government would criminalize the communication of statements that promote and advocate terrorism. [...] Asked specifically how his bill would discriminate between real terrorists and kids just trying to be jerks, the prime minister said it wouldn't. [...] The bill would also allow all government agencies to give the security services whatever information they possess on Canadians. Is any of this necessary? [O]n first reading, it's hard to see the point of Bill C-51. In Canada, it's already a crime to plan or support terrorist activity. The RCMP already uses legal methods to disrupt planned terror attacks. That's what it did with the Toronto 18. On Friday, Harper was asked whether his new bill could have prevented either of last fall's attacks on soldiers in Ottawa and Quebec. He said he wasn't sure. It was a refreshingly honest answer. But it raised the broader question: If the government doesn't know whether these measures will do any good, why is it proposing them?
Surveillance des agences de s�curit�
Oversight of security agencies 


L'actualit� 04/02/2015 -  Dans ce contexte, deux mesures devraient �tre mises de l'avant:
- Renforcer les pouvoirs des organismes de surveillance des forces de l'ordre, comme le recommandent les trois r�centes commissions d'enqu�te. Que le CSARS et la Commission des plaintes envers la GRC aient plus de moyens, de ressources et de personnel, et que la cr�dibilit� de leurs membres soit irr�prochable. Les pr�sidents de ces comit�s devraient �tre nomm�s avec l'accord de tous les partis politiques aux Communes, ce qui minimiserait les chances de sc�narios � la Chuck Strahl ou Deborah Grey.

- Cr�er un comit� sp�cial de la Chambre des communes sur la s�curit�, afin d'encadrer leur travail, ainsi que celui du SCRS, de la GRC et du Centre de la s�curit� des t�l�communications du Canada (CSTC) - l'�quivalent de la NSA aux �tats-Unis -, qui prend beaucoup d'ampleur au Canada (voir mon texte sur le sujet). Ce comit� devrait aussi garder l'œil sur certains minist�res f�d�raux, comme la S�curit� publique, l'Agence des services frontaliers et Immigration Canada. Les �lus de ce comit� parlementaire poss�deraient une cote de s�curit� tr�s �lev�e pour leur permettre d'aller en profondeur au moment des s�ances � huis clos.
Libert� d'expression
Freedom of speech

Kent Roach & Craig Forcese: How Ottawa's new terrorism act could chill free speech 

The Globe and Mail 05/02/2015 - The government wants to jail people who, by speaking, writing, recording, gesturing, or through other visible representations, knowingly advocate or promote the commission of terrorism offences in general, while aware of the possibility that the offences may be committed. We have completed and posted a 10,000 word legal analysis of this provision, and its constitutionality. We have concerns. We do not accept as credible the claims that its scope is clear. We do not believe that it is confined to the objectives cited by the government's official backgrounder (penalizing someone who "instructs others to 'carry out attacks on Canada'"). Indeed, we think that this sort of statement is already criminal in most situations. We regard the proposed provision as potentially sweeping. We have serious doubts as to its constitutionality. Meanwhile, we have precisely no doubts that it is capable of chilling constitutionally protected speech.

Politique et terrorisme
Politics and terrorism
 
 
The Hill Times 02/02/2015 - Anti-terrorism legislation Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled last week gives the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service sweeping new powers that would allow the spy agency to use any undefined measure-other than the use of lethal force, perversion of justice or "violating the sexual integrity" of an individual-in a new role empowering it to disrupt national security threats, but one of Canada's most prominent civil liberties and human rights lawyers, Paul Champ, says it's "more about politics than public safety." [...] "The Harper government has introduced this bill, in an election year, to create a political wedge issue of sorts, and unfortunately the opposition parties not only have recognized that but they are responding in kind rather than taking a principled stand on civil liberties," Mr. Champ said. "National security legislation is best crafted with the support and consensus of opposition parties. True national security concerns are that important." [...] "It seems that the Prime Minister is trying to exploit some very unfortunate incidents in the fall of 2013 where two mentally disturbed men carried out horrific acts, but I think investment in improved mental health will probably get us a lot further than giving sweeping powers to CSIS and other branches of government." Under the new law, government and departments-such as the Canada Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration, the Department of Finance, Foreign Affairs and even the department of Health-would be able to share information with CSIS or the RCMP and Canada Border Services that would otherwise be protected by Canada's privacy laws. The bill defines "activity that undermines the security of Canada" as "any activity" that "undermines the sovereignty, security or territorial integrity of Canada or the lives or the security of the people of Canada," including nine specific activities listed at the beginning of the omnibus legislation. The list includes "interference with the capability of the government of Canada in relation to intelligence, defence, border operations, public safety, the administration of justice, diplomatic or consular relations, or the economic or financial stability of Canada."

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La loi, l'ordre et les raccourcis

Libert� de la presse
Freedom of the press 


La Presse 03/02/2015 - Deux jours apr�s la lib�ration de son confr�re australien, le journaliste canadien d'Al-Jazeera Mohamed Fahmy, d�tenu aussi depuis 13 mois au Caire pour avoir �falsifi� des informations, �tait mardi en passe d'�tre expuls� apr�s avoir renonc� � sa nationalit� �gyptienne. [...] Selon la loi �gyptienne, les nationaux ou binationaux doivent �tre jug�s en �gypte et y purger leurs peines d'emprisonnement �ventuelles. Mais si M. Fahmy obtient satisfaction et devient uniquement canadien, il pourra se voir appliquer une loi promulgu�e en novembre, autorisant sur d�cret pr�sidentiel l'expulsion des �trangers condamn�s � la prison ou en instance de jugement. C'est en vertu de ce texte que M. Greste a �t� expuls�.

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Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy counts hours to release from Cairo prison

Australian colleague calls for Canadian Fahmy's release from Egyptian jail

Detained Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy gives up Egyptian citizenship

L'�gypte rel�che un coll�gue du journaliste Mohamed Fahmy

Amid violence against journalists worldwide, Egypt releases 1 of 3 jailed Al Jazeera reporters

Peter Greste is free but Egypt's journalists remain muzzled
Surveillance globale
Mass surveillance 

Western spy agencies secretly rely on hackers for intel and expertise   
 

The Intercept 04/02/2015 - The U.S., U.K. and Canadian governments characterize hackers as a criminal menace, warn of the threats they allegedly pose to critical infrastructure, and aggressively prosecute them, but they are also secretly exploiting their information and expertise, according to top secret documents. In some cases, the surveillance agencies are obtaining the content of emails by monitoring hackers as they breach email accounts, often without notifying the hacking victims of these breaches. "Hackers are stealing the emails of some of our targets... by collecting the hackers' 'take,' we... get access to the emails themselves," reads one top secret 2010 National Security Agency document. These and other revelations about the intelligence agencies' reliance on hackers are contained in documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The documents-which come from the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters agency and NSA-shed new light on the various means used by intelligence agencies to exploit hackers' successes and learn from their skills, while also raising questions about whether governments have overstated the threat posed by some hackers.

Read more - Lire plus

A year after reform push, NSA still collects bulk domestic data, still lacks way to assess value

Proposed changes to US data collection fall short of NSA reformers' goals

EFF wins battle over secret legal opinions on government spying

What ever happened to NSA officials who looked up lovers' records?
 
Autres nouvelles - More news
Anti-terror legislation
L�gislation anti-terrorisme  
Criminalisation de la dissidence
Criminalization of dissent 
Drones 
Guantanamo

Guerre au terrorisme
War on terror 
Islamophobie
Islamophobia 
No-fly lists
Listes d'interdiction 
Omar Khadr 
Privacy
Vie priv�e
R�flexions sur le terrorisme
Reflections on terrorism 
State secret
Secret d'�tat 
Terrorism cases
Proc�s pour terrorisme
Terrorisme
Terrorism
Torture 
Miscellenaous
Divers

 

 
CETTE SEMAINE / THIS WEEK
 
Action   

Reject fear. Stop Harper's "secret police" bill C-51!    

LeadNow.ca - We call on MPs to reject Stephen Harper's fear campaign and stop the bill, unless it's amended to:
-- Include strong safeguards for Canadians, including a dedicated, high-level Parliamentary committee to oversee our spy agencies.
-- Strip out the outrageous attacks on civil liberties, including the sweeping expansion of spy powers, criminalization of speech, and preventative arrest for those who have committed no crime.
-- Clarify that the vague parts of the bill, to be certain it will only be used to target people who pose a violent threat to the lives and physical security of people


Action   

Stop spying on us!   

OpenMedia - Breaking: leaked documents reveal that the Canadian spy agency CSE is conducting widespread, warrantless surveillance targeting use of our favourite downloading websites.

Tell Prime Minister Harper: I will not give up my right to privacy. These rights are more important than ever. End warrantless surveillance and rein in CSE now.


Action   

Signez la p�tition pour lib�rer le blogueur saoudien Raif Badawi  



Amnistie internationale - Raif Badawi, prisonnier d'opinion en Arabie saoudite, risque la mort pour avoir offert un d�bat sur la libert� religieuse.
Exigeons des autorit�s saoudiennes que les coups de fouet cessent imm�diatement, que Raif soit lib�r� sans condition, et qu'il soit r�uni avec sa famille r�fugi�e au Canada.
Exigeons de cet �tat qu'il respecte ses obligations en mati�re de droits humains et qu'il abolisse la flagellation.



English petition
Arar +10   

Watch the Arar +10: National Security and Human Rights, 10 years later conference

Retrospective of the Past Decade
Opening remarks: Retrospective of the Past Decade
Panel 1: The People and Lives Behind the Issues
Panel 1: The People and Lives Behind the Issues
Panel 2: Perspectives from the Media
Panel 2: Perspectives from the Media
Keynote Panel: Judicial Reflections on National Security and Human Rights
Keynote Panel: Judicial Reflections on National Security and Human Rights
Panel 3: Lawyering for Human Rights in a National Security Context
Panel 3: Lawyering for Human Rights in a National Security Context
Panel 4: A View from Community Level
Panel 4: A View from Community Level
Panel 5: Oversight and Review
Panel 5: Oversight and Review
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks

Les opinions exprim�es ne refl�tent pas n�cessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG

What is the News Digest? Qu'est-ce que la Revue de l'actualit�?

The News Digest is ICLMG's weekly publication of news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, and civil liberties. The ICLMG is a national coalition of thirty-eight Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
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La revue de l'actualit� est notre publication hebdomadaire de nouvelles, d'�v�nements, d'appels � l'action, et beaucoup plus, entourant la s�curit� nationale, la lutte au terrorisme, et les libert�s civiles. La CSILC est une coalition nationale de 38 organisations de la soci�t� civile canadienne qui a �t� cr��e suite aux attentats terroristes de septembre 2001 aux �tats-Unis.