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ICLMG 15/12/2015 - [...] The road ahead will be bumpy and full of obstacles. We will keep calling for the repeal of C-51. We are determined to obtain the implementation of Justice O'Connor's recommendations from the Arar Commission report: a parliamentary oversight and robust and integrated review mechanisms. Parliamentary oversight alone is not enough, review mechanisms are crucial.
We call the government to apologize to Ahmed El Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin and to compensate them. They are suing the federal government for failing to do so and a court date has been set for 2016. We hope that the government  won't wait until then. Instead, we call on the government to correct this wrong as soon as possible. Salim Alaradi, the Canadian citizen arrested in summer 2014, is still behind bars in the United Arab Emirates. There is news that his file has been sent to the General Prosecutor. This is deeply troubling as he has not been accused of any crimes. We called many times for his immediate release. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented the torture he was subjected to. Evidently, Canada is not doing enough. ICLMG called on the Foreign Affairs Minister, Stéphane Dion, to ask for his immediate release and return to Canada. There are many hopes and many challenges to come. We count on your support and generosity so we can build a better Canada and a better future for our children. Happy Holidays from the ICLMG. |
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CBC News, January 2015 - Canada's electronic spy agency sifts through millions of videos and documents downloaded online every day by people around the world, as part of a sweeping bid to find extremist plots and suspects, CBC News has learned. Details of the Communications Security Establishment project dubbed "Levitation" are revealed in a document obtained by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and recently released to CBC News. Under Levitation, analysts  with the electronic eavesdropping service can access information on about 10 to 15 million uploads and downloads of files from free websites each day, the document says. "Every single thing that you do - in this case uploading/downloading files to these sites - that act is being archived, collected and analyzed," says Ron Deibert, director of the University of Toronto-based internet security think-tank Citizen Lab, who reviewed the document. In the document, a PowerPoint presentation written in 2012, the CSE analyst who wrote it jokes about being overloaded with innocuous files such as episodes of the musical TV series Glee in their hunt for terrorists. Read more - Lire plusL'agence fédérale de cyberespionnage intercepte vos courrielsChristopher Parsons: Canada has a spy problemHarper's surveillance decadeUSA - "Snowden effect" in action: NSA authority to collect bulk phone metadata expiresFrance - Les députés approuvent le système de surveillance du trafic sur Internet |
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Lettre signée par 4 anciers premiers ministres, anciens juges à la Cour suprême, commissaires, etc.La Presse, février 2015 - Dans nos différents rôles de charge publique, nous avons tous été confrontés et avons répondu à une série de préoccupations urgentes en matière de sécurité. Nous convenons tous et toutes que la protection du public est une des plus importantes fonctions du gouvernement et que les agences de sécurité nationale du Canada jouent un rôle vital à ce niveau. Cependant, nous sommes tous et toutes également d'avis que l'absence d'un mécanisme efficace et complet d'examen des agences de sécurité nationale du Canada fait en sorte qu'il est difficile d'évaluer de  manière significative l'efficacité et la légalité des activités de ces agences. Ceci soulève d'importants problèmes de protection du public et des droits de la personne. Une proposition détaillée de création d'un mécanisme complet de reddition de compte a été élaborée il y a presque une dizaine d'années par le juge Dennis O'Connor dans le cadre des recommandations de la Commission d'enquête relativement à Maher Arar. Cette commission avait pour mandat d'examiner le rôle des agences canadiennes de sécurité nationale dans le renvoi vers la torture d'un citoyen canadien innocent. La mise en place des recommandations du juge O'Connor, ainsi que la réponse aux appels répétés des organismes de surveillance pour élargir le pouvoir de procéder à des examens de toutes les agences, se font toujours attendre. Lire plusEnglish version: A close eye on security makes Canadians saferTen years after the Arar report - what have we learned?Millions for surveillance - nickels for privacyQui surveille les agences de sécurité ? Épreuve des faitsCanada's spy review bodies struggling to keep tabs on agencies
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ICLMG, June 2015 - When Bill C-51, the Anti-terrorism Act 2015, was tabled in Parliament this spring, Canada's leading human rights organizations called for the Bill to be withdrawn. The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Amnesty International, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association, La Ligue des Droits et Libertés and the National Council of Canadian Muslims have  stated from the outset that the serious human rights shortcomings in Bill C-51 are so numerous and inseparably interrelated that the Bill should be withdrawn in its entirety. We believe that any national security law reform should instead, first, be convincingly demonstrated to be necessary and should then proceed only in a manner that is wholly consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the country's international human rights obligations. Read more - Lire plusGroups want broad public consultations on anti-terror lawLa Loi antiterroriste fédérale contestée en courUN report on Canada's human rights record a 'wake-up call'Bill C-51 violates Universal Declaration of Human Rights, OSCE finds |
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Ottawa Citizen, July 2015 - In a post-9/11 world, security precautions are non-negotiable. But geo-political circumstances should not trump expectations of fair treatment for all citizens by both government and private institutions. Indeed, the Supreme Court of Canada articulated this point, stating that "the conclusion in this case does not mean that a company can blindly comply with a discriminatory decision of a foreign authority without exposing itself to liability under the Charter." This should make every Canadian airline pause before unquestioningly accepting a threat designation,  particularly given that a 2009 internal U.S. government audit indicated up to a 35 per cent error rate in the American watch list. Even Maher Arar isn't sure if he's still listed in the U.S., almost 10 years after a public inquiry officially cleared him. Latif remained on a watch list for four years before his name was quietly scrubbed. [...] "Once placed on the no-fly list, it is very difficult for the individual to remove their name from the list. There is no due process, no fundamental justice, and no natural justice under the scheme," reads the court application. Any possibility for redress is "burdensome and complex." Our legislators have not done enough to ensure that a questionable sense of security for all doesn't come at the certain expense of far too many. Read more - Lire plus |
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Amnesty International, September 2015 - I welcome today's announcement by the RCMP to lay criminal charges against Colonel George Salloum who was directly responsible for my torture while I was detained at the Palestinian Branch of the Syrian Military Intelligence. Since I launched my complaint in 2005, I gave the RCMP investigating team, during the many interviews I had with them, the information they needed to advance their investigation. This lengthy international investigation took the officers overseas to gather evidence. As a result, they were able to better  understand the nature of interrogations in Syrian detention centers. Upon their return, the investigators were able to pass on their knowledge to other RCMP staff. I believe this is vital for the RCMP to grasp given the increased urge to share information even with regimes who don't respect our understanding of basic human rights. It is important to emphasize that while this criminal charge is only with respect to my case, Colonel George Salloum, was directly involved in the torture of others including Canadian citizens. This is by no means the end of the road. It is my hope that George Salloum will be found alive, arrested and extradited to Canada to face Canadian justice. Read more - Lire plus Feds can't retroactively protect CSIS sources in torture lawsuit, says judgeBenamar Benatta reaches settlement with Canadian government |
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CBC News, September 2015 - In August, Fahmy lost his second trial on widely denounced terrorism charges connected to his work for Al-Jazeera's English network. He faced a three-year sentence after already having spent more than 400 days in prison. But Wednesday, the warden told him to pack  his belongings and police inexplicably dropped Fahmy off in a Cairo suburb still wearing his prison uniform. "They literally put us in a truck and took us to this location and left us on the street with no money, no mobile phones," he told CBC News. "We were told that [we] can now go home ... It was unbelievable." Read more - Lire plusMohamed Fahmy dénonce Stephen Harper5 countries using anti-terror legislation to muzzle journalists |
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Rideau Institute, September 2015 - A new report, entitled Torture of Afghan Detainees: Canada's Alleged Complicity and the Need for a Public Inquiry, has just been released by the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Written by Omar Sabry, a human rights researcher and advocate based in Ottawa, the study identifies the need for government accountability and non-impunity for alleged breaches of international and national  law, in relation to the transfer of Afghan Detainees, despite substantial risks that they might be tortured. In transferring hundreds to the custody of the NDS in Kandahar, Canada failed to prevent the torture of many Afghan detainees," said Sabry. The government occasionally suspended transfers for various reasons, including disturbing allegations of abuse, but then resumed transfers on at least six occasions. The government's conduct in this regard was haphazard and unprincipled, in addition to being in violation of international law." Read more - Lire plusNo more torture: World's largest group of psychologists bans role in national security interrogationsOn Human Rights Day, one year on: No apology and no accountability for US torture |
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CBC News, October 2015 - Since the beginning of the air campaign in Iraq and Syria, the coalition has conducted nearly 8,000 airstrikes. Nearly 200 of those are Canadian. To date, the coalition claims its airstrikes have killed only two civilians. Canada claims its airstrikes have not killed any. However, a  fifth estate investigation raises questions about how diligent the Canadian and U.S. militaries have been in looking into allegations of civilian casualties. It also found nearly 50 credible allegations - involving as many as 600 possible deaths - that merit further review. Click below to see both the Canadian airstrikes and casualty reports involving coalition airstrikes plotted on two maps. Read more - Lire plusMSF delivers petition calling for investigation into Kunduz hospital attack |
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iPolitics, October 2015 - In 2014, the Conservative government came up with a new citizenship law, Bill C-24. Part of this bill became law in May 2015. This time, the target was citizenship. Before Bill C-24, revocation of citizenship was limited to naturalized Canadians who acquired their citizenship through false representations. With the new law, dual citizens can have their citizenship stripped away from them if they commit an act of terrorism, espionage or treason. The law only applies to naturalized citizens or those who were born in Canada but can claim citizenship in another  country through one of their parents - even if they have have no ties with that country whatsoever. Meanwhile, if you were born in Canada and can't be eligible for citizenship in another country, you can't be stripped of your Canadian citizenship - no matter what kind of crime you've committed. The new grounds for revocation are very broad and seem to be based on some spot evaluation of the offender's loyalty to Canada. What isn't clear - as the Canadian Bar Association has pointed out - is why the loyalty of dual nationals should be questioned more than that of other Canadians, or why their loyalty should determine the status of citizenship. This is a very slippery slope and we're standing on top of it. Read more - Lire plusRefugee crisis: thousands may lose right of asylum under EU plansCanada can do more to advance refugee rights and protection |
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The Toronto Star, October 2015 - Two weeks after pardoned Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy arrived back in Canada from a Cairo jail, Canadian resident Khaled Al-Qazzaz is still waiting to leave Egypt. This week he and his Canadian wife Sarah Attia had an unexpected shock. Released from captivity by the Egyptian authorities nine months ago without charge, he was told that the prosecutor  general had issued a travel ban that will keep him in the country indefinitely. "We had been told that there was no travel ban, because there was no case against Khaled," said Attia in a phone interview Friday. "But when we tried to leave the country on March 5, and again on April 16, we were prevented from going, without any explanation. Our lawyer told us there was no ban." On release from jail in January, Al-Qazzaz was given a green light by all the Egyptian ministries associated with his case. Read more - Lire plus |
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Ottawa Citizen, November 2015 - On Nov. 19, Diab's Paris lawyers will appear before a panel of three other judges in an effort to have intelligence evidence in the case withdrawn on the basis that it is unreliable and flawed. Canadian federal prosecutors, who acted for the French government during Diab's extradition hearing, were forced to withdraw the intelligence because they didn't know its source and couldn't prove that it had not been gleaned from torture. If the lawyers' bid is  successful, prosecutors would be left with several other pieces of evidence, the most important of which is analysis of writing taken from a Paris hotel register. Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger ordered Diab's extradition in 2011 after saying that he found the handwriting evidence "illogical, very problematic, convoluted, very confusing with conclusions that are suspect." Maranger said that if a fair trial were held in Canada, it would be unlikely Diab would be convicted, but the judge added that the low threshold of Canadian extradition law left him with no choice but to hand the academic over to France. Read more - Lire plus |
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The Globe and Mail, November 2015 - The mess in the Middle East is not going to be solved in any war that centrally involves the West. We need less war and more peace, less bombing and more talking. That's what U.S. President Barack Obama has finally understood, even if it's proving far more difficult than he anticipated. But the talks now going on in Vienna among all the main actors is the greatest cause for hope we've had for years. As for amending Mr. Harper's ferocious Bill C-51, as the Liberals have vowed, nothing has changed. The best experts told us that we had already given our security people enough leeway to prevent any serious attack in  Canada. They don't need the extra powers provided by C-51, which also distort the right balance between our rights and our security. Last week, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Mounties had all the powers they needed to keep us safe. This week, they still do. After all, look at France. Despite a remorseless intelligence service with wide powers, it stopped neither Charlie Hebdo in January nor Bataclan on Friday. It's pretty disconcerting, actually. It seems that French security officials were taken by surprise in both instances. They had the tools to do their jobs properly. Yet somehow they didn't. We must all learn why they failed. Paris was horrific. So was Beirut and every other IS outrage. But a game-changer? Only if they remind us that all humans are equal and that war is rarely the way to stop killing. Read more - Lire plusAfter Paris, rights groups warn against knee-jerk 'national security' overreachCharlie-Hebdo: au-delà de l'attaque, le vrai dangerNo Chelsea morning for hypocritical world leaders in Paris |
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Paris Match, décembre 2015 - Le blogueur saoudien, Raif Badawi, ne s'alimente plus depuis mardi dernier. Fin novembre, les nouvelles étaient rassurantes. La fin du cauchemar presque imminente. Raif Badawi, le blogueur saoudien condamné à dix ans de prison et à 1.000 coups de fouet, était sur le point d'être gracié par le pouvoir d'Arabie saoudite. « J'ai été informé que la sentence a été suspendue », avait déclaré le secrétaire suisse aux Affaires étrangères, Yves Rossier. Avant d'ajouter : « Une procédure de  grâce est maintenant en cours auprès du chef de l'Etat, donc du roi Salmane ben Abdelaziz al-Saoud». Il semblerait que cette lueur d'espoir se soit éteinte. L'épouse de Raif Badawi, Ensaf Haidar, a appris la semaine dernière que son mari a été transféré dans une nouvelle prison, nommée Shabbat Central. Situé à près de 90 km de Jeddah, le lieu de détention est très isolé. « La nouvelle ébranle mon espoir parce que cette prison est faite pour des prisonniers dont le verdict a été confirmé par un dernier jugement», a confié Ensaf au «Journal de Montréal». Suite à cette décision, Raif a décidé de ne plus s'alimenter, d'entamer une grève de la faim, pour tenter de faire réagir le pouvoir en place. Read more - Lire plusRaïf Badawi condamné à 1000 coups de fouet: Le cri de coeur de sa femme au Parlement européenRaïf Badawi: Trudeau pas prêt à s'impliquer personnellement |
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Feministing, December 2015 - More than 90 percent of the House of Representatives are supporting a bill that changes visa laws to effectively create two tiers of US citizens, Americans of Middle Eastern or Muslim background, and everyone else. The bill, called the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act, puts restrictions on the visa waiver program, which  until now allowed nationals of 38 countries to visit the U.S. for up to three months without a visa. Under the restrictions, dual nationals of certain countries ("certain" obviously meaning Muslim and of color - Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan for now) and recent visitors to those countries (presumably folks with ancestry of that country so also Muslim and of color) would be banned from using the visa waiver program. Read more - Lire plus This is what Islamophobia looks like in CanadaNiqabs: The election's weapon of mass distraction |
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CTV News, December 2015 - An Ontario teen is calling on the new Liberal government to secure the release of her father, who has been languishing in a United Arab Emirates prison without charge for more than a year. Marwa Alaradi has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and every MP on Parliament Hill asking for Canada to intervene in her family's  ordeal. "We want them to negotiate with the U.A.E., to understand what's going on," she told The Canadian Press in an interview. "I showed them that I need help." Salim Alaradi, a 46-year-old Canadian of Libyan origin who was running a business in Dubai, was abruptly detained without explanation in August last year. His daughter now hopes an intervention from the federal government may help set her father free. Read more - Lire plusReports reveal UAE state security subjected Salim Alaradi to inconceivable torture |
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ICLMG, December 2015 - Last August 2015, the federal government launched deportation proceedings against Mohamed Harkat, exactly 20 years after he first arrived to Canada and claimed the refugee status. Mohamed Harkat was arrested on December 10, 2002 - exactly 13 years ago - under a security certificate, and since he has been in a legal limbo. He stayed three years in jail, some of them in Guantanamo North, the 3.2 million dollar prison built specially for Muslim detainees. After he was released, he was subjected to the strictest conditions  of house arrest. His wife, Sophie Lamarche, became his "unofficial" jailer at home, thus losing what remained of their privacy. For many years, he had to wear an electronic tracking bracelet to monitor all his movements. [...] This deportation decision would be the first step towards the removal of Mohamed Harkat from his peaceful life in Canada to torture and very likely disappearance and execution. [...] Today, we ask the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, to immediately stop the deportation procedures against Mohamed Harkat. And we add: does this government want to be remembered for sending a refugee back to torture or execution? Read more - Lire plusSophie Harkat's husband Mohamed is being deported. Here's what she has to say. |
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ICLMG, December 2015 - So it is official: the emails of Hilary Clinton started flowing in the public arena. Today, the Globe and Mail reported the content of some of these emails and the discovery is shocking. Well not really! Shameful to be accurate! Many human rights groups and activists knew that the Canadian government was preventing Omar Khadr  from being repatriated to Canada but it was not known that the Americans at some point were very enthusiastic and excited about his return to Canada. One of the US officials, the State Department legal adviser, Harod Koh, exclaimed: "So glad we got this done". "After spending the last 10 years on GTMO (Guantanamo), at least this young man finally has another chance." This is in total contradiction with what Canadian officials tried so hard to make us believe. Read more - Lire plusSupreme Court rejects argument Omar Khadr was adult offenderOmar Khadr est libre, tranche une Cour d'appel |
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Action
PM Trudeau: Call on the UAE to free Canadian citizen Salim Alaradi now!
ICLMG - Salim Alaradi, a Canadian citizen and father of 5 young children, has been detained without charge in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  since August 2014. We are also worried that he was tortured. His health is deteriorating quickly as his family has informed us this week. Write to Prime Minister Trudeau to urge him to call on the UAE to free Salim Alaradi now!
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Action
Tell Prime Minister Trudeau to consult with Canadians now, while there's still time to undo C-51
OpenMedia - Prime Minister Trudeau has said C-51 is a top priority,1 but we must ensure Canadians are at the centre of the process. If we aren't consulted, we could miss our chance to fully repeal the dangerous powers in this bill. C-51 was rammed into law  without meaningful public consultation. Its unprecedented new spy powers are too far-reaching to address behind closed doors. Over 300,000 Canadians have spoken against the reckless, dangerous, and ineffective bill. If we don't act quickly, we'll lose our chance. ACT NOW: Tell Prime Minister Trudeau to launch a public consultation.
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Action
Let Khaled leave Egypt!
Free Khaled Al-Qazzaz - Write to your MP to ask them to urge the Egyptian authorities to remove the travel ban on Canadian resident Khaled  Al-Qazzaz so he can finally be free and return to Canada with his family after being detained without charges for a year and a half and released since January 2015 but prevented from leaving the country.
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Action
Saudi Arabia: Stop the execution of juvenile activist Ali al-Nimr
Amnesty International - Two courts have upheld the death sentence against a Shi'a activist. He has exhausted his appeals and may be executed as soon as the King ratifies the sentence. Ali al-Nimr was sentenced to death on 27 May 2014 for offences he is alleged to have committed when he was 17 years old. The court seems to  have based its decision on "confessions" which Ali al-Nimr has said were extracted under torture and other ill-treatment and has refused to look into this allegation. When Ali al-Nimr was arrested in February 2012 he was not allowed to see his lawyer. He has said that GDI officers tortured him to make him sign a "confession". Read more and sign the petition now!
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Action
Signez la pétition pour libérer le blogueur saoudien Raif Badawi
 Amnistie internationale - Raif Badawi, prisonnier d'opinion en Arabie saoudite, risque la mort pour avoir offert un débat sur la liberté religieuse. Exigeons des autorités saoudiennes que les coups de fouet cessent immédiatement, que Raif soit libéré sans condition, et qu'il soit réuni avec sa famille réfugiée au Canada. Exigeons de cet État qu'il respecte ses obligations en matière de droits humains et qu'il abolisse la flagellation.  English petition
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG
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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 43 Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. +++
La revue de l'actualité est notre publication hebdomadaire de nouvelles, d'évènements, d'appels à l'action, et beaucoup plus, entourant la sécurité nationale, la lutte au terrorisme, et les libertés civiles. La CSILC est une coalition nationale de 43 organisations de la société civile canadienne qui a été créée suite aux attentats terroristes de septembre 2001 aux États-Unis.
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personal information responsibly," says 
en vertu d'un article litigieux du Code de la sécurité routière. Celui-ci interdit «toute action concertée» destinée à entraver la circulation. Mais cette disposition «enfreint les libertés d'expression et de réunion pacifique protégées par les chartes québécoise et canadienne», écrit le magistrat. «Cette limitation n'est pas justifiée dans le cadre d'une société libre et démocratique.» Le gouvernement a six mois pour modifier le Code de la sécurité routière afin de se conformer à la décision de justice.
university's Human Rights Research and Education Centre and Centre for International Policy Studies, "Arar +10" reviewed the state of national security and human rights in Canada a decade after a public inquiry was established to investigate the rendition to Syria and torture of Canadian citizen Maher Arar. From a range of panels key recommendations emerged. The conference's recommendations are particularly timely as the new federal government prepares to introduce legal and other reforms reversing or revising national security and citizenship laws and practices.
promote and favour the interests of Canadian mining companies and to influence decisions over extractive projects and related policies. The trend of repression and deregulation in Canada to favour mining, oil, and gas projects is consistent with the model that the Canadian government promotes abroad. Concluding with a series of ideas and recommendations for discussion, the report seeks to spur debate and foster creative action to protect dissent in defence of land and the environment, and to question Canada's role in promoting the underlying economic development model that is putting communities at such a deadly disadvantage.
