Original author: Maha Zimmo
Source: MediaMonitors.net
URL: [link]
Date: July 21, 2005


"As of September 6th 2005, Sophie will have spent one thousand and one nights living under the shadow of destruction that began when her husband Mohamed was arrested via the auspices of the CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) Certificate, accused of having ties to terrorists. Within moments, anyone associated with a man detained behind the secret evidence of the Security Certificate has a new descriptive. In the case of Sophie, she has gone from being the wife of Mohamed or “Moe” as she calls him, to being the wife of a “terrorist” as he is being called."

On one of the hottest and most humid evenings Ottawa has experienced this summer, I sit across a patio table from Sophie Harkat, watching her wipe her brow and fan herself as students chatter around us. She is irritated and tired after a long day and warns me that I "don't want to catch [her] in a bad mood on a hot day". I take this as my cue to not engage in an interview just yet, and instead listen to her recount some wildly funny moments about a day that included two documentary film makers, a lawyer, a motorcycle and an interesting bus ride.

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Original author: unsigned editorial
Source: The Toronto Star
URL: [link]
Date: June 30, 2005

Canada has had to detain few people as terror suspects since the 9/11 attacks. We have four Arab men in custody. They arrived here, were deemed inadmissible as terror suspects, and are being held on "national security certificates" as they fight deportation. A fifth is free until his case can be decided, but is tightly monitored. That is a small group.

Even so, Canadians are increasingly troubled by this controversial business of holding people for years without putting them on trial.

And rightly so, because it is an affront to human rights.

As Alexandre Trudeau noted this week, "it's in the interest of Canada to not be detaining people who haven't been charged" with a crime.

Trudeau made his statement at a Federal Court bail hearing for Hassan Almrei, a Syrian who has been held at the Metro West Detention Centre for 3 1/2 years. Trudeau and other prominent figures have offered to post bail.

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Original author: Thomas Walkom Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: July 2, 2005 Celebrities take up cases of five held in indefinite detention

There is some good news. After four years of running scared, people are beginning to realize that, hey, maybe it's not a good idea to eliminate civil liberties entirely in the name of fighting terror. The cheering news this week was the decision of Alexandre Trudeau, the late prime minister's son, to testify on behalf of Syrian refugee Hassan Almrei, who has been held without charge in a Toronto jail for almost four years. Almrei and the other four Muslims held under the provisions of so-called security certificates haven't aroused a wave of sympathy in Canada. The government wants to deport them because it says it has evidence that they are connected to terrorism. But it won't say what that evidence is. It has admitted that it does not have enough to charge them in criminal court with terrorism. This puts the five in the unenviable position of trying to fight shadows. In most cases, they don't know where Canada's security forces obtained the information being used against them. Even when they do, they cannot cross-examine the source. What if he got his facts wrong? What if he provided information under torture? What if he is lying? What exactly did he say? The accused can never know. In a normal world, there would have been an outcry long ago. But like Americans, Canadians were frightened by 9/11. They feared the CN Tower would be blown up by Al Qaeda. They secretly, and sometimes not so secretly, mistrusted swarthy men with moustaches. So there was not much sympathy. And, in the media - with a few notable exceptions - there was not much coverage.

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Original author: Michelle Shephard Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: June 30, 2005

All intelligence shared with U.S. Safeguards fell, Arar inquiry told

OTTAWA - In the panic after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the RCMP dropped all normal safeguards on sharing intelligence and went to extraordinary lengths to give information to U.S. authorities, a senior Mountie says. Databases and copies of hard drives of computers seized from suspects were handed over to U.S. officials, and Canadian investigators gave presentations to joint intelligence meetings. It was part of what the RCMP called Project Shock, a country-wide search for terrorists that allowed Canadian investigators to work hand in hand with the United States. Information flowed freely, with no privacy or jurisdictional conditions. In police lingo, this was known as a state of "caveats are down." It was within this climate, described yesterday for the first time by Superintendent Michel Cabana, that Maher Arar became part of an Ottawa-based terrorism investigation known as A O Canada. "We had to share all information with these agencies, without any delays," Cabana testified. "The way it was described to us is, you're working hand in hand with people now and when you're working in partnership with agencies, caveats don't apply."

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Original author: Cassandra Szklarski
Source: Canoe News CNEWS and Canadian Press (CP)
URL: [link]
Date: June 27, 2005


TORONTO (CP) - Alexandre Trudeau says he's doing it for his country.

The son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau spoke out Tuesday against Canada's extraordinary use of security certificates to detain suspected terrorists, telling a Federal Court the oft-criticized measure is not right.

He was testifying on behalf of accused terrorist Hassan Almrei, a Syrian national who has been held in solitary confinement nearly four years for alleged contact with al-Qaida members.

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Orignial author: Brian Date: June 26, 2005
photo by YayaCanada

Lots of great pics of the arrival in Minto Park in Ottawa courtesy of YayaCanada Photos by YayaCanada [link] Congratulations to all who organized and/or participated in the march.

Original author: N/A Source: Email Date: June 24, 2005 PLEASE CIRCULATE FAR AND WIDE....JOIN US AT 4PM ON PARLIAMENT HILL !!!! Refugees march arrives in Ottawa to demand status

======================= TO MEET THE MARCH ON JUNE 25, 2005 - 8:00 am: Ecole secondaire Garneau, 6588 rue de la Carriere, Ottawa (corner of Orleans boulevard and Carriere) - 12:00 -noon: Marquis Park (corner of Ogilvy and Montreal Road). - 4:00 pm: Rally on Parliament Hill - 6:00 pm: Minto Park (corner of Elgin and Gilmour) CONTACT: 514-568-8283 or 514-298-9974 ======================== OTTAWA-- Refugees and their supporters, organized in a coalition called Solidarity Across Borders, are arriving today in Ottawa after a weeklong walk from Montreal to Ottawa that began on June 18th 2005. "We have been marching to Ottawa since June 18th. Despite this historical march, and despite the fact that this week marked the 5th anniversary of World Refugee Day, inhumane acts are currently being perpetrated against non-status refugees and immigrants . We are marching for justice and dignity for all those who've been victimized by the racist policies of the Canadian government. So far, Volpe has ignored us and our demand to meet with him" says Sarita Ahooja, spokesperson for Solidarity Across Borders. The No One Is Illegal March on Ottawa is in support of the main demands: the regularization of all non-status persons; an end to the deportation and detention of migrants, immigrants and refugees; and the abolition of security certificates. The march to Ottawa has become all the more urgent since members of Solidarity Across Borders have learned that on June 22, five children of a non-status Mexican family living in Montreal were seized by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) from their home. The children (aged 3, 5, 7, 11 and 18) are currently being detained at the Laval Immigration Detention facility. Solidarity Across Borders members are outraged that such an inhumane act would take place. We are marching to Ottawa to denounce the government's role in this case and in all cases where non-status people have faced racism, injustice and oppression at the hands of the Canadian government. Solidarity Across Borders is a coalition of self-organized refugee groups and their allies. Member organizations include: Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians, Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees...

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Original author: Dennis Bueckert
Source: Macleans.ca
URL: [link]
Date: June 15, 2005


OTTAWA (CP) - A UN committee says it is gravely concerned about Canada's system of jailing suspected terrorists without trial using national security certificates.

The UN committee on arbitrary detention, which is visiting Canada at the federal government's invitation, said persons detained under security certificates are denied the right to a fair hearing.

The committee will report its findings to the UN Commission on Human Rights next year. Its findings have no legal force but could affect Canada's international reputation.

The security certificates can be applied only to non-citizens and are based on secret evidence. Even the suspect's lawyer is not allowed to see it.

If the certificate is upheld by a court, the suspect is deported to his country of origin;

The committee noted that all four of the people currently detained under security certificates are Arab Muslims, and one of them has been detained for five years.

All four of the suspects now in detention argue they face a risk of torture if returned to their homelands.

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Source: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights URL: [link] Date: June 16, 2005 The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights issued the following statement at a press conference held on 15 June in Ottawa at the end of a visit to Canada. The visit was led by Working Group chairperson Leila Zerrougui and included the participation of members Soledad Villagra de Biedermann and Mohammad Hashemi.

As many persons we have met during the last two weeks, you may ask yourselves why the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has come to Canada. The answer is simply that the Government has invited the Working Group for an official mission.

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Original author: Matthew Behrens of The Campaign To Stop Secret Trials in Canada
Source: TASC Email List Date: June 15, 2005 The Problem with Torture: No One Will Believe You A Report Back from 24 Hours Against Torture

In the waning moments of Toronto's 24 Hours Against Torture vigil, a telling incident occurred when an angry constituent went into the office of Deportation Minister Joe Volpe and demanded to know what was going on. This individual had just read one of our flyers, detailing the cases of the Secret Trial Five, all of whom are at risk of torture or death if deported to Syria, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. The flyer included quotations from documents released by the immigration and border services agencies which came to the conclusion that, despite the likelihood of such cruel and unusual treatment, the men should be deported anyway. The response to his concerns, this individual said, was rather blunt. "They're making that up," he was reportedly told by office staff in reference to the group that had spent the previous 23 hours camped outside the office. Perhaps the alleged comment was the result of a staff that has no clue what takes place in the Canadian deportation bureaucracy, which annually deports more than 10,000 people to an uncertain fate, and which plans to mark World Refugee Day, June 20, with a deportation of Nepalese refugee Subas B.K. to torture in Nepal. Perhaps they were unaware that the United Nations Committee on Torture had just called on Canada a few weeks ago to join the ranks of civilized nations and respect the absolute prohibition on deportation to torture.

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