header bilingue
Revue de l'actualit� - News Digest 
3 mars 2016 - March 3rd, 2016 
�ditorial  
Editorial  

Monia Mazigh 
No-Fly List: what is the government trying to hide?  

ICLMG 24/02/2016 - In January 2016, the ICLMG, with the great help of Ken Rubin, Canada's long-time access to information warrior, filed an access to information application about the No-fly list. [...] Last week, we received 88 pages of documents. Only 8 pages were unredacted. [...] Reading from these pages is a sort of a guessing game. A charade with skewed distribution of information, where the government is preventing us from seeing the full picture. [...] Unfortunately, these documents didn't answer our initial questions: how many Canadians are on the no-fly list? Why kids, like Adam Ahmed, the Hockey fan from Toronto, are still on the list with no possibility so far to remove them? The whole question of redress and appeal remains a total mystery.
 
Oversight of national security agencies 
Surveillance des agences de s�curit� nationale 
 
CSIS skirts the law, Parliament blinks. So much for 'oversight'.
 
iPolitics 26/02/2016 - Believe it or not - and I had a hard time believing it myself - no one on the committee asked Coulombe a single question about CSIS's traffic in purloined tax records. Instead, former Veterans Affairs minister Erin O'Toole wasted time chiding Liberal MP Nathanial Erskine-Smith for being unaware that CSIS has "no arrest powers" ... and over his private member's bill on shark's fin soup. NDP MP and co-vice chair Matthew Dub� asked Paulson and Coulombe about their anti-radicalization efforts and seemed quite content with their anodyne replies. ("Fantastic," he said.) The easily-impressed Dub� seems to have forgotten that Paulson pulled the plug on the RCMP's support for a handbook produced by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Islamic Social Services Association that was designed to stop young Muslim Canadians from joining extremist terror groups. Oh well. To be fair, the committee's muted response to CSIS getting up to its old, dirty tricks was mirrored by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale's own indifference. Goodale wasted no time finding a microphone on the Hill to describe the goings-on at the police college as an "embarrassment" and call for a swift investigation. But, like the members of the committee, Goodale has kept mostly silent about allegations of serious misconduct by CSIS.

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NDP miffed at Liberal silence on MP security oversight panel

National security policy under review, says Goodale
Security certificate   
Certificat de s�curit� 

Why is Ottawa still trying to deport Mohamed Harkat?

The ICLMG has endorsed this opinion piece

Justice for Harkat Committee 29/02/2016 - The court has declared unconstitutional the practice of destroying original information on which the allegations are based. Despite this, the government is still relying on summaries of information that was destroyed for its rationale for keeping Mr. Harkat under surveillance and seeking his deportation. [...] Mr. Harkat fears torture and execution if he is returned [to Algeria] - especially after having been labeled a terrorist by Canada, despite never having been charged and never having committed a crime. He has every reason to be afraid.

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Ottawa Citizen 01/03/2016 - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's brother has written to a federal cabinet minister on behalf of Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat, asking the Liberal government to continue its "sunny ways" by allowing the Algerian-born terror suspect to stay in Canada. Alexandre Trudeau, a Montreal-based filmmaker, said he has a policy of not lobbying the Liberal government in any way, but decided to make an exception in the Harkat case because his  involvement in the cause predated his older brother's entry into politics. In his letter, dated Feb. 27, Trudeau appealed to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to halt the unfair security certificate process and end the government's attempt to deport Harkat. "I urge you to use your unique position as minister, and the discretion afforded to you under the law, to exempt Mohamed Harkat from deportation and let him stay and live a productive life in Canada," Alexandre Trudeau wrote, adding: "Make this decision of yours another shining example of your government's commitment to sunny ways."

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God willing: The story of Sophie Harkat
Canadians detained abroad    
Canadiens d�tenus � l'�tranger

Prosecution's case against Canadian Salim Alaradi weakens as more witnesses come forward

Canadian citizen detained in United Arab Emirates for 551 days


Free Salim Alaradi 29/02/2016 - At the end of today's hearing, the judge postponed the trial to March 21st 2016 to allow for the subpoena and testimony of the former President of Libya who served during the National Transition Council (NTC), the internationally recognized government after the Libyan revolution. Canadian citizen Salim Alaradi of Libyan origin, like many Libyans, was a philanthropist who sent relief supplies to help with the suffering of the Libyan people after the revolution in 2011. The legal team intends for the former President of Libya to confirm that Alaradi strictly sent supplies directly to the NTC government, a testimony that will only reaffirm written statements provided by the NTC administration. The trial was also postponed to allow for the forensic medical assessment, conducted by a court-appointed physician, scheduled to take place this Thursday. The lawyers have no doubt that a fair and independent examination will corroborate that severe torture took place which has been confirmed by the United Nations (UN).

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Freedom of the press     
Libert� de la presse 

Journalists need to defend each other from state snooping: Cole

The Toronto Star 03/03/2016 - For a year, the Mounties have been trying to get hold of all correspondence between Makuch and a Calgary resident named Farah Shirdon, whom the RCMP accuses of leaving Canada to participate in terrorist activities with Daesh. Makuch first contacted Shirdon in 2014, and wrote three articles about him that year. The Mounties say Makuch's notes contain evidence of Shirdon's crimes, and served him with a search warrant last year at Vice's offices. The journalist and his publication have refused to hand over the notes, and the issue is now before an Ontario court. State meddling into journalism is far more of a threat to Canadians than the alleged terrorist affiliations of an individual. Shirdon's message for Canadians who support war with Daesh is chilling: "you shall see your streets filled with blood." Such a view ought to be public, and we have Makuch to thank for interviewing Shirdon and exposing his hateful views. But journalists do not work for the RCMP, and should be free to do our jobs without the government looking over our shoulders, or denying us the confidentiality we need to find sources and get information.

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Mass surveillance   
Surveillance globale 
 
 
The New York Times 25/02/2016 - The Obama administration is on the verge of permitting the National Security Agency to share more of the private communications it intercepts with other American intelligence agencies without first applying any privacy protections to them, according to officials familiar with the deliberations. The change would relax longstanding restrictions on access to the contents of the phone calls and email the security agency vacuums up around the world, including bulk collection of satellite transmissions, communications between foreigners as they cross network switches in the United States, and messages acquired overseas or provided by allies. The idea is to let more experts across American intelligence gain direct access to unprocessed information, increasing the chances that they will recognize any possible nuggets of value. That also means more officials will be looking at private messages - not only foreigners' phone calls and emails that have not yet had irrelevant personal information screened out, but also communications to, from, or about Americans that the N.S.A.'s foreign intelligence programs swept in incidentally.

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Autres nouvelles - More news
Anti-terror legislation
L�gislation antiterroriste 
Attack on civil society
Attaque contre la soci�t� civile 
Citizenship
Citoyennet�  
D�mocratie et Charte des droits
Democracy and Charter of rights 
Drones 
Entrapment
Pi�geage
Guantanamo 
"Guerre au terrorisme"
"War on terror"
Islamophobie et racisme     
Islamophobia and racism 
Migration and refugee rights     
Migration et droits des r�fugi�.es 
Reflections on the war on terror   
R�flexions sur la guerre au terrorisme 
 
ISIS defectors: Why they sometimes walk free
Torture
Miscellaneous
Divers
CETTE SEMAINE / THIS WEEK
 

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.



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!

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.

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!


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.


Report


Critical areas where the Canadian government needs to demonstrate commitment to upholding human rights in national security policies and activities were outlined today in a report on the anniversary of the October 2014 "Arar +10" conference. Convened at the University of Ottawa on October 29, 2014 by Amnesty International and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, along with the 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.

Report


ICLMG & MiningWatch Canada - In summary, the report observes that it is becoming ever more dangerous and difficult for affected communities and organizations who are fighting for Indigenous rights, self-determination and environmental justice in the Americas to speak out and do their work. As this situation worsens, the Canadian government has increasingly dedicated its diplomatic services, aid budget, and trade and investment policy to 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.


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 43 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 43 organisations de la soci�t� civile canadienne qui a �t� cr��e suite aux attentats terroristes de septembre 2001 aux �tats-Unis.