The Huffington Post 04/05/2016 - It might sometimes be politically "easy" to denounce torture when it is practiced by other governments, especially if they don't have enough international clout, but how about the torture happening in Canada or the torture "subcontracted" by Canada to other regimes abroad? Is Canada ready to distance itself from it, forcefully denounce it, and prosecute those who practice it? For years, Canada didn't budge and didn't sign the protocol. Today, there are signs that the government is considering to change this shameful attitude, so let's see how they can do it correctly. Five main issues will serve for us as testers for this promising change: Solitary confinement, Omar Khadr, the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmed El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, and the torture memos.

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Dion official: Canada to join UN anti-torture protocol after more than a decade

The Toronto Star 01/05/2016 - The Communications Security Establishment has been in a yearlong spat with privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien's office over reporting "material" privacy breaches. The spy agency's reluctance comes despite government-wide regulations requiring all serious privacy breaches - those that potentially could cause serious harm to an individual, or involving a large number of Canadians - to be disclosed to the independent watchdog. In a letter sent to a senior Treasury Board employee, released under access to information law, Therrien took aim at a proposal to provide only limited information to his office about privacy violations at CSE. "A report that does not state the number of breaches does not give the Office of the Privacy Commissioner enough information to have a clear discussion with the institution in question," Therrien wrote. "The expertise of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner can not, therefore, be put to use."

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More oversight coming for CBSA, says Goodale

The Globe and Mail 03/05/2016 - The world lives in fear, just as Islamic State intends. Actively or passively, many wonder when that next Islamist bomb is going to find us. But is this fear justified? Several authorities think not, but they're very much in the minority. Take Gwynne Dyer, for example, a London-based Canadian who writes regularly and knowledgeably about world issues. Mr. Dyer says out loud things many of us aren't ready to say. Last year he published a book with the telltale title Don't Panic: ISIS, Terror, and Today's Middle East, and recently wrote a column with the same message. In it he comes close to trivializing the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium - "a couple of bombs that killed 34 people." We're failing, he insists, to distinguish between "what is truly dangerous and what is only dramatic and frightening." "Terrorism is a statistically insignificant risk," he asserts. People "are in much greater danger of dying from a fall in the bath than of dying in a terrorist attack." Despite the invariable over-the-top rhetoric of politicians, "Belgium's freedom is not at risk," he concludes. "Terrorists are not an existential threat. They are a lethal nuisance, but no more than a nuisance."

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In 2016, toddlers have shot more people in the US than Muslim terrorists have

Opinion: The First Global Terrorists Were Anarchists in the 1890s

Belgian police knew since 2014 that Abdeslam brothers planned 'irreversible act'

 

rabble.ca 04/05/2016 - In the time following September 11, 2001, the Chretien government passed a number of acts, beginning with the 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, which mirrored the United States' infamous Patriot Act in expanding surveillance powers and eroding judicial oversight. The Liberals also embraced the use of "security certificate" regime to indefinitely detain non-citizens, until this was partly struck down by the Supreme Court in 2007. In short, those looking for evidence that the Liberals are less than sincere when it comes to their opposition to the provisions of C-51 would not have to go to far afield to do so. Though one can object to certain provisions of the bill in specific while still supporting these other pieces of legislation, it remains the case that their inaction on this issue seems to speak to a wider pattern. In the meantime, CSIS, RCMP and other federal agencies have been clear that they are, indeed, using powers granted to them by C-51 to bypass judicial review in their activities. Though department spokespersons have indicated that these powers have been used to "disrupt" terrorist networks, it is acutely impossible to know exactly how and for what purposes the legislation is being applied and interpreted by the government.

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Le Monde 03/05/2016 - Ils voulaient un « bateau citoyen » qui sauverait des vies. Un navire financé dans un élan de générosité de donateurs privés... L'humanitaire Sophie Beau et le capitaine de marine marchande Klaus Vogel ont affrété l'Aquarius et, en deux mois de Méditerranée, affichent le sauvetage de 917 hommes, femmes et enfants promis à une noyade certaine. Un an après sa naissance, leur association, SOS Méditerranée, se positionne comme un opérateur de sauvetage crédible qui a gagné sa place au côté des militaires et des gardes-côtes italiens. De la minuscule équipe qui la gère émane une conviction profonde, celle que « les politiques n'ont pas pris la mesure de la situation et que nous sommes installés dans une crise migratoire durable », insiste Mme Beau, sa directrice générale. A ce constat, Francis Vallat, le président, ajoute que « face à cette situation dramatique, la société civile doit contribuer de manière indépendante, pérenne et en dehors des agendas politiques à la mission de sauvetage en mer insuffisamment prise en compte par les pouvoirs publics ».

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Reform of rules on refugees' loss of status urgent following new court decision

La multiplication des camps de migrants, devenus des outils de médiatisation

CBSA Montreal offices occupied and disrupted

UK - Bill forcing people to prove nationality slammed as discriminatory

Embarqué avec la brigade anti-immigration en Libye