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Monia Mazigh: Can a law be made retroactive after the fact? The Liberal government thinks so
ICLMG 11/02/2016 - One crucial aspect of Bill C-44 is that the Conservative government said nothing about it being retroactive. Therefore, we were shocked to learn last week that the Liberal governement, in its fight against the lawsuit brought by Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, decided to continue pushing for C-44 to be considered retroactive so that the greater protection of informants included in the legislation  would apply to the years when the detention and torture of the three men occurred. [...] Why is the Liberal government now opposing these men's right to get justice? What happened to the accountability that we have been hearing of in the recent months, specifically in the mandate letter to the Public Safety Minister? [...] It would be a great mistake for the Liberal government to fight victims of torture. Extending CSIS already large powers to make them retroactive won't take us anywhere near accountability. Read moreVersion française : Une loi peut-elle devenir rétroactive après avoir été adoptée? Le gouvernement libéral croit que oui |
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Liberals back CSIS in torture lawsuit
The Toronto Star 06/02/2016 - The Liberal government has taken up the former Conservative government's legal fight against an apology and compensation for three Canadians tortured in the Middle East, despite voting in favour of the former detainees' cause while they sat in opposition. As well, in aggressively defending the actions of CSIS and trying to prevent the release of thousands of unredacted documents that a judge is now poring over, the Liberals are going further than their Conservative predecessors did to protect CSIS sources. Lawyers for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government are seeking  retroactive blanket anonymity for spies and their sources and have filed an appeal in a civil lawsuit launched by the three men with that goal in mind. A Conservative bill last year, C-44, which enacted source protection, was not made retroactive. [...] But lawyer Phil Tunley, who is leading the team of counsel to the men, is shocked by the moves of a Liberal government that explicitly promised to bring accountability to the nation's national security regime. "The case is about accountability," Tunley said in an interview. "If you remove the courts from the oversight of CSIS management of its human sources and you basically say no court can ever look behind and see whether a source really is a confidential source or if they're telling the truth . . . there's no accountability in the courts. It's an extraordinarily draconian measure." Read more - Lire plusNearly 200 images released by US military depict Bush-era detainee abuse - 1800 more withheldMilitary prosecutor: Senate report on CIA interrogation program is accurateDonald Trump: I'd bring back 'a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding' |
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Salim Alaradi's lawyer calling on Canada to secure his client's "immediate release" from UAE
CBC 08/02/2016 - As the trial for Canadian Salim Alaradi moves ahead in the United Arab Emirates, his lawyer is calling on the Canadian government to secure his freedom. Alaradi had been held without charge for more than 500 days in the Emirates. Late last week, the prosecutor disclosed the prosecution file to Alaradi's lawyer in preparation for Alaradi's next appearance Feb. 15. "It was really unclear what it was alleging that he actually had done," Ottawa lawyer Paul Champ told CBC News. "Now we have  the prosecution file, we've learned more. They're alleging that in 2011 during the [Libyan] revolution to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi, Alaradi was providing support to the militias that were part of that revolution." Champ said that Alaradi denies ever being involved with those militias and that the prosecution's case is built with confessions made under torture. "That is the most shocking thing, the entirety of the evidence is based on confessions," Champ said. "Now that we've seen this entire prosecution case is based on confessions tainted by torture, our view is that Canada at the highest levels should be calling for his immediate release." Read more - Lire plusEntrevue de Monia Mazigh sur Salim Alaradi à Radio-Canada Windsor (audio) |
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Ex-spy watchdog asks: Why isn't CSIS coming clean on tax data breach?
iPolitics 05/02/2016 - Former CSIS Inspector General Eva Plunkett (a position abolished by Harper) "said that Goodale has been far too publicly circumspect about this business to date. "Beyond saying this is wrong, I'm wondering what the minister is going to do. Has he brought in Michel Coulombe [CSIS's director] and talked to him and said: 'What's the story here?'" Plunkett said there are still too many unanswered questions. How many Canadians  had their tax information breached without a warrant? What was the nature of the information CSIS collected? How was it used? Who authorized the breach? How long did it continue? How many intelligence officers were involved? Why did CSIS keep the information after insisting the documents had been destroyed? And what disciplinary action, if any, was taken against the CSIS employees who obtained this information? "(Given) my years of experience, I would take nothing at face value," she said. Read more - Lire plus
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Federal privacy watchdog wants info on agency tracking peaceful protests
The Toronto Star 06/02/2016 - In June 2014, the Ottawa Citizen reported that the GOC asked government departments for help in compiling a "comprehensive listing of all known demonstrations" across the country. The revelations drew the ire of  the Liberals while in opposition. [...] But the GOC's operations do not appear to have changed in the early days of the new Liberal government. The Star repeatedly reached out last week to the office of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale, but he was unavailable to comment. Read more - Lire plus
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Peggy Mason: Let's leave this ill-considered military mission altogether
Ottawa Citizen 08/02/2016 - The non-military aspects of the new Liberal plan, including diplomatic peacemaking in Syria, and promoting regional stability and improving Iraqi governance, are important steps in the right direction. However, the military components of the Liberal response, which involve not only an expanded training role but continued participation in the air campaign through reconnaissance and refuelling, will only heighten Canadian involvement in an ever-deepening quagmire. Since the announcement by Justin Trudeau that Canada would be withdrawing its CF-18s from the coalition bombing campaign, there  has been an incessant media drumbeat demanding that he rethink this decision. The demand only intensified after the Paris attacks, as if the decision to change Canada's role in the coalition was based on a misunderstanding of the threat and not on a desire to be more effective. The federal government can be rightly castigated for not articulating more forcefully its reasons for wanting to adjust the role. But this does not excuse the failure of the Canadian media to consider the actual effect on the ground of the bombing campaign. [...] Canada would have far greater impact if we pulled out of the military mission altogether and concentrated on regional stabilization, humanitarian measures and, above all, acting as a catalyst for a new strategy that puts diplomatic peacemaking in Syria and Libya and governance reforms in Iraq at the heart of coalition efforts. |
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Anti-terror legislation
Législation anti-terroriste
France - L'Assemblée nationale adopte le projet de loi de révision de la Constitution
France Inter 10/02/2016 - C'était le 16 novembre, trois jours seulement après les attentats de Paris et Saint-Denis. François Hollande proposait, devant les députés et sénateurs réunis en Congrès à Versailles, un nouveau régime constitutionnel pour l'état d'urgence. Le président de la République annonçait que l'état d'urgence et la déchéance de nationalité pour les binationaux condamnés pour actes de terrorisme allaient être inscrits dans la Loi fondamentale. Après trois mois de vifs débats et de polémiques, l'Assemblée nationale vient de voter ce mercredi la révision constitutionnelle. [...] Concernant l'état d'urgence, l'article 1er autorise, comme c'est le cas actuellement, le Parlement seul  à proroger l'état d'urgence au-delà de douze jours, par une loi en fixant la durée. Avec l'avis favorable du gouvernement, les députés ont ajouté que cette durée ne pourra "excéder quatre mois", toutefois renouvelables. L'article 2 de cette loi de révision constitutionnelle stipule q'une personne pourra "être déchue de la nationalité française ou des droits attachés à celle-ci lorsqu'elle est condamnée pour un crime ou un délit constituant une atteinte grave à la vie de la nation". La référence aux binationaux, présente dans la version initiale du projet de loi, a été supprimée après la levée de boucliers à gauche contre une possible discrimination entre Français. L'extension de la déchéance aux délits les plus graves a été ajoutée pour prendre en compte une demande du parti Les Républicains. Il ne sera pas non plus fait référence dans ce texte d'application aux binationaux, ce qui rend en théorie possible la déchéance d'un Français n'ayant pas d'autre nationalité et ainsi la création d'apatrides. Read more - Lire plusFrench anti-terror bill moves forward amid civil liberties debateEtat d'urgence : le CCIF dénonce « le ciblage tous azimuts » des musulmansAmnesty et HRW dénoncent les dérives de l'état d'urgence en France
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Autres nouvelles - More news
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ICLMG - Canada's numerous national security agencies - including CSEC, CSIS, the RCMP and CBSA - have inadequate or simply no oversight or review mechanisms. This has led to human rights violations such as the rendition to torture of Canadiancitizens Maher Arar,
Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nurredin, among others. In 2006, Justice O'Connor concluded the Arar Commission with several recommendations to prevent such atrocities from happening again: Canadian national security agencies must be subjected to robust, integrated and comprehensive oversight and review. Years have passed and the federal government has yet to implement the recommendations.
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ICLMG has put together a table detailing the issues with the legislation, actions and review mechanisms of the CSE, CSIS and the RCMP. There are 21 federal departments and agencies with national security responsibilities in Canada  - including the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Financial Transactions and Report Analysis Centre (FINTRAC), Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and Transport Canada. Only 3 have some sort of review mechanism - which are highly inadequate. We need better oversight and review now!
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Action
Tell your MP:
"I demand a real, open consultation that will let us Kill C-51"
OpenMedia - Right now, the government is deciding how to deal with C-51 and its irresponsible spying powers. If we don't act ASAP, there's a huge chance decision-makers will side with pro-surveillance forces and sacrifice our Charter rights once and for all. But, if we can get a real, open consultation  on C-51, people like you will ensure the government finally has to kill the bill's dangerous powers. Parliament resumes on Monday, which means they're deciding now. Message your MP today, and make sure we get the real, open consultation we deserve to kill C-51 for good.
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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
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 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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Report
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Report
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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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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.
