ICLMG 10/03/2016 - The ICLMG in collaboration with other prominent Canadian human rights organizations is sending today two separate letters to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale containing recommendations with respect to the upcoming national security reform in Canada. The first letter proposes seven principles to guide the government's approach to anticipated consultations with respect to national security. The second letter focuses on the parliamentary oversight of national security agencies and the importance of including comprehensive and robust review mechanisms of those same agencies. Click on the link to read the letters.

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Version française : Des groupes canadiens de défense des droits envoient deux lettres au ministre de la Sécurité publique Ralph Goodale

Our national coordinator now has a regular column in the Huffington Post

Huffington Post 10/03/2016 - Despite all the legal battles Mohamed Harkat and his wife have been conducting to allow him to stay in Canada, he finds himself today facing deportation to Algeria. Recently CBSA filed a report where it plainly concludes that Mohamed Harkat should be deported to Algeria, despite the risk of being tortured there if he returns. Reading some parts of the report, it seems clear that CBSA never learned any lessons from all the previous cases where Canada was found complicit in the torture of Canadians. Basically, the CBSA's approach can be summarized by the following: Mohamed Harkat's actions (or "potential" actions) have been amplified, and his risks of torture and abuse in Algeria have been minimized. Even the fact that Mohamed Harkat has been married to Sophie Lamarche, who has been fighting all these years to keep him in Canada, has been described in very demeaning words. Using a patriarchal cliché on how a man's contribution is assessed in the family, the report concluded that Sophie Lamarche wouldn't suffer much since Mohamed Harkat hasn't been financially supportive.

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The latest European Court of Human Rights ruling on accountability for torture

 
 
The Canadian Press 09/03/2016 - The death of yet another immigration detainee in custody has sparked anger and raised alarm bells among human rights groups looking for elusive answers. The latest fatality, shrouded as usual in secrecy, occurred at the Toronto East Detention Centre on Monday, according to authorities. Canada Border Services Agency refused to provide any details as to the identity of the prisoner or the circumstances of the death. Rights groups called the death and the border agency's unwillingness to share information unacceptable. "Nobody should die while they are in the custody of CBSA," Mitch Goldberg, president of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, said in a statement Wednesday. [...] Critics said the latest death underscores the urgent need for independent oversight of Canada's border police, especially given their broad powers of arrest and detention. "CBSA remains alone among major Canadian law enforcement agencies in having no independent oversight," said Laura Track with the BC Civil Liberties Association.

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The Toronto Star 09/03/2016 - So the obvious question arises: If the service continues to do what it has always done, why does it need Bill C-51's extraordinary new powers? The CSIS response, repeated by Coulombe Monday, is that Canada's allies give their spy agencies similar powers. Yet, as law professors Craig Forcese and Kent Roach told a Senate committee last year, there is no evidence that this statement is true. Critics have pointed out that there are good reasons to keep CSIS out of the threat-disruption business. First, it can easily get out of hand. CSIS was created in 1984 in large part because the RCMP, which had been handling national security, became too involved in playing dirty tricks against so-called security threats. In one famous instance, the Mounties burned down a barn to prevent Quebec separatists from meeting there. Second, a hyperactive security service can easily interfere with the ability of real police to build legitimate criminal cases. Third, the remarkably intrusive powers granted CSIS by Bill C-51 are cloaked in secrecy. Even the fact that judicial warrants have been sought must be kept hidden. Roach and Forcese note that the law, as written, would allow CSIS to operate a secret prison system. "We cannot risk a parallel system of detention by a covert agency able to act against people who have committed no crime," the two security experts told a Senate committee last year.

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CSIS used Bill C-51 powers several times to disrupt suspected terrorists, Senate hears

Warrant issued for Ismael Habib under suspicion of terrorism

Documents reveal CSIS wary of Bill C-51 reforms

Canada worried about China's 'distinctly Chinese approach' to national security

Entrevue avec l'avocat de Khadr, Dennis Edney

L'actualité 08/03/2016 - Pourquoi continuez-vous à vous battre pour Omar Khadr? Parce que c'est important! L'histoire d'Omar Khadr n'est pas simplement celle d'un enfant enfermé dans une prison infernale à Guantánamo. C'est un rappel inquiétant de la façon dont nous permettons à la peur de nous submerger. L'histoire d'Omar, c'est celle de vous et moi. Ça témoigne du type de monde dans lequel nous voulons vivre. À quel point sommes-nous désireux de nous lever pour défendre nos propres valeurs? Ce n'est pas normal d'avoir permis à nos voisins, au sud de la frontière, d'enfermer un de nos citoyens sans rien dire, sachant très bien que depuis 2002, Amnis­tie internationale, Human Rights Watch et la  Croix-Rouge dénonçaient déjà les actes de torture, les viols et les meur­tres à Guantánamo. Nous n'avons rien fait. Nous sommes donc complices.

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The Intercept 09/03/2016 - As it virtually always does, the Obama administration instantly claimed that the people killed were "terrorists" and militants - members of the Somali group al Shabaab - but provided no evidence to support that assertion. Nonetheless, most U.S. media reports contained nothing more than quotes from U.S. officials about what happened, conveyed uncritically and with no skepticism of their accuracy: The dead "fighters ... were assembled for what American officials believe was a graduation ceremony and prelude to an imminent attack against American troops," pronounced the New York Times. So, the official story goes, The Terrorists were that very moment "graduating" - receiving their Terrorist degrees - and about to attack U.S. troops when the U.S. killed them. With that boilerplate set of claims in place, huge numbers of people today who have absolutely no idea who was killed are certain that they all deserved it. As my colleague Murtaza Hussain said of the 150 dead people: "We don't know who they are, but luckily they were all bad."

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Jameel Jaffer: Limit the next President's power to wage drone warfare