CSILC 20/01/2016 - Un jour, mon mari a disparu à l'étranger et je ne savais pas quoi faire. Appeler le ministère des Affaires étrangères? Appelez la police? Appelez l'ambassade du Canada? Appeler un avocat? Appelez les journalistes? Appelez les organisations de défense des droits de la personne? Appelez les politiciens? Le niveau d'anxiété, de détresse et le manque de soutien étaient énormes. Depuis 2002, je me suis familiarisée avec les  histoires de plusieurs Canadiens et leurs familles qui ont traversé ces phases émotionnelles, logistiques et politiques. Les «chanceux» sont revenus au Canada sains et saufs, et ils ont été en mesure de retrouver une sorte de normalité. Leur résilience était leur meilleur allié afin de ravoir leurs vies volées. Malheureusement, pour beaucoup d'autres, ils sont toujours détenus à l'étranger, désemparés, dans de mauvaises conditions de santé, maltraités, menacés par l'incertitude et/ou l'arbitraire qui entoure leur détention. [...] Il est temps pour le Canada d'adopter une stratégie claire, complète et efficace pour aider ses citoyens détenus à l'étranger afin que personne ne soit laissé seul face à l'arbitraire et l'injustice.

Lire plus

English version: Editorial by Monia Mazigh: Canadians detained abroad: and now what to do?

The Canadian Press 19/01/2016 - The Trudeau Liberals will review controversial directives enacted by the Harper government that allow for the sharing of information even when it might lead to torture, says the public safety minister. The "troubling set of issues" raised by the foreign information-sharing policy "will be raised in the course of our consultations" on the overall national security direction of the new government, Ralph Goodale said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. The news follows pressure from human-rights and privacy advocates to conduct a wide-ranging examination of security policies introduced by the Conservatives, whisked from office in the October election.

Read more

Risque de torture : les libéraux vont revoir la politique de partage de renseignements

The National Post 18/01/2016 - The first time I was unable to check-in online for a domestic flight, I assumed it was because I had a baby. Perhaps it was the amount of luggage, or the stroller I used to facilitate travel with my four children, all under the age of seven, to our cottage in Prince Edward Island. When I arrived at Toronto's Pearson airport, the agent asked me to identify two males in my party. I pointed to my 15-month-old, who was slobbering over a pear, and my seven-year-old, who was playing with Lego figurines, and her mouth dropped. She proceeded to make a few calls. I didn't listen because I was making sure my kids didn't sit on the luggage scale (flying with children is so much fun!). When I travel, I am prepared to be selected for "random extra security checks," as I have brown skin and wear a hijab. But I didn't have a clue that my second-generation Canadian children might be flagged as security risks. The idea did not occur to me because it was completely nonsensical. A senior agent came by shortly thereafter and proceeded to enter information into the computer and make more phone calls. My patience was wearing thin. He hurriedly explained that there was an issue with one of my children. Eventually, we were escorted through security to the gate and settled into our seats. I didn't think much of it. It had only taken an extra 40 or 50 minutes and we had arrived at the airport three hours early. Yet the actual issue would take over eight years to resolve.

Read more - Lire plus

How a young American escaped the no-fly list

The Huffington Post 20/01/2016 - There's no shortage of issues for the new government to address right now, from climate change to the rise of ISIS/ISIL (or as they don't like to be called, Daesh), to pressing indigenous issues and a commitment to 25,000 Syrians refugees. But as Canadians openly welcome Syrians, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally tells them "you are home," we owe it to them to revisit a piece of legislation that targets them as Muslims, as well as other groups like indigenous people, environmentalists, or anyone who creates art that explores terrorism or criticizes the government of the day.[...] The Liberal government has committed to rewrite what they describe as "problematic elements" of Bill C-51 and introduce new legislation that strengthens accountability in regards to national security, balancing this with rights and freedoms. Amnesty International Canada and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group recently issued a report urging the new government to go further. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the government is open to an expansive revamp of national security legislation, and they will give Canadians a chance to have their say before making a decision. This is our chance. Let's show the government that we don't have to choose between security and human rights and civil liberties. While it may be a campaign tactic, fear is not a policy. And it's also not a Canadian value.

Read more

ICLMG's reminder of why amendments are insufficient and Bill C-51 needs to be repealed

Vice News 19/01/2016 - The Canadian Air Force is moving ahead with its weaponized drone program, and it's hoping to find a model that's good for everything from blowing up enemy convoys to helping drowning sailors. The government published the call-out to the defense industry on Friday, asking military contractors to spell out how they would build a Canadian drone fleet. The Joint Unmanned Surveillance and Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS), after years of trying to acquire non-weaponized drones, is now searching for a single type of unmanned aerial vehicle to do many different things, including dropping bombs. The Royal Canadian Air Force is hoping to get as many as 12 drones, and wants them to be a veritable Swiss Army knife - able to run top-of-the-line surveillance, but also capable of dropping precision missiles. [...] In another scenario, the air force tasks the drone - almost certainly, without any sort of weapons onboard - to do fly-overs of a G20 summit near Quebec City. [...] The last time Canada hosted a G20 summit, police and intelligence tactics netted a flurry of complaints from civil liberties groups - and that was before they had drones. [...] From a privacy standpoint, concerns have already been raised about the data that the drones can collect. "There is a strong argument that UAVs may be a surveillance game-changer," wrote the Office of the Privacy Commission of Canada in a 2013 report. [...] The request for proposals makes no mention of any privacy protections that should be included with the drones.

Read more - Lire plus

Is "near certainty" certain enough?

More Air Force drones are crashing than ever as mysterious new problems emerge

Ars technica UK 14/01/2016 -  The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Hungary's anti-terrorism legislation infringes on the human rights of citizens there. The court was "not convinced that the legislation in question provided sufficient safeguards to avoid abuse." For example, it was concerned that "the scope of the measures could include virtually anyone in Hungary, with new technologies enabling the Government to intercept masses of data easily concerning even persons outside the original range of operation." It was particularly worried by the oversight system-or rather the lack of it: surveillance was being carried out purely on the say-so of the government, and "without an assessment of whether interception of communications was strictly necessary and without any effective remedial measures, let alone judicial ones, being in place," the Court said. As a result, the ECHR concluded that there had been a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the "right to respect for private and family life, the home and correspondence." The case was brought by two Hungarian nationals who worked for a non-governmental watchdog organisation. Hungary's Constitutional Court, which considered the complaint initially, agreed that everyone using communication systems there was inevitably affected by the country's surveillance law, without requiring the complainants to prove that they had been directly impacted. That was an important recognition, because it meant that the ECHR could consider whether their human rights had been infringed as a result.

Read more - Lire plus

Canada's military plans to monitor the world's social media

The White House asked social media companies to look for terrorists. Here's why they'd #fail

TPP continues attack on privacy with restrictions on data localization requirements

U.S. lawmakers delay bill on European data privacy deal

The secret surveillance catalogue

Sécurité : l'UE veut un partage d'informations sur les antécédents judiciaires des non-Européens

Vancouver police should apologize for stereotyping tourists: Cole

France - Le nombre d'actes antimusulmans a triplé en 2015

Lessons from the Japanese Canadian internments: Policies built on fear won't make us safer

Settlement of NYPD Muslim surveillance lawsuits: A platform for better oversight

The color of surveillance

Cameron tells Muslim women: Improve your English or you may have to leave UK

Moving call to bring Canada's non-status refugee claimants out of the shadows

Mille euros d'amende avec sursis pour l'homme qui avait aidé une fillette de la « jungle » de Calais

Four Syrian refugees must be brought from Calais camp to Britain, judges rule

La Macédoine ferme sa frontière avec la Grèce aux migrants

La gestion des migrants par l'Europe est un « échec catastrophique », selon MSF

Advocates hopeful US Supreme Court will reject 'extremist' attack on immigration