Original author: Andrew Duffy Source: The Ottawa Citizen URL: [link] (subscribers only) Date: March 17, 2005
Measure indicates jurist taking terrorist hearing 'very seriously:' lawyer

A federal court judge will sit in a closed courtroom today to again hear secret testimony in the case of accused Ottawa terrorist Mohamed Harkat. It is the second time since the end of the public hearing in December that Judge Eleanor Dawson has recalled federal government witnesses to ask more questions of them. Mr. Harkat and his lawyer, Paul Copeland, have not been told who the witnesses are or what questions are being put to them.

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Original author: Matthew Behrens of The Campaign To Stop Secret Trials In Canada Source: TASC Email list Date: March 9, 2005 Families of Detainees Undertake Intensive lobby at Parliament Hill as Parliamentary Motion Calls for End of Abusive Process; Three Liberals, One Tory Add Names to Growing List of MPs Calling for an End to Secret Trial Security Certificates and an End of Canadian Deportation to Torture; Another Demonstration in Victoria adds to the growing chorus of dissent

OTTAWA, March 8, 2005 - "Did you get our dad out yet?" one of the young children of the secret trial detainees asked us today as we returned to an Ottawa daycare space following two days of intensive lobbying on Parliament Hill. While we did not have the answer he needed to hear, the longer-term response was that we are making steps in the right direction. At the end of the lobby period, during which friends and family of Canada's Secret Trial Five met with almost 20 MPs and Senators, it was clear that secret trials are an issue being discussed both in various party caucuses and in Cabinet. Indeed, much to the chagrin of CSIS and their biggest booster, Anne McLellan, the issue has been forced into the wider sphere of the reviews of the anti-terror legislation. Last week, there was an all-party consent to include the security certificates in the House subcommittee's review of C-36, and excellent, persistent questioning of witnesses before the Senate committee by folks like Senators Lynch-Staunton and Mobina Jaffer, among many others).

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Original author: Tonda Maccharles Source: The Toronto Star URL: [link] Date: March 8, 2005 Mosques being monitored by agency Two top officials speak to senators

OTTAWA - A Canadian landed immigrant is a key commander affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq, a top CSIS official says. CSIS director Jim Judd told a Senate committee yesterday "the ranks of trained terrorist fighters in Iraq are bolstered by individuals from around the world, including from Europe and Canada."

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Source: NDP Press release Date: March 8, 2005 Alexa calls on the government to halt use of security certificates

Alexa McDonough held a press conference with families of four men currently held on security certificates, calling on the government to charge these men if evidence exists that they've committed a crime or release them immediately! Ms. McDonough tabled a detailed motion that also called on the government to abide by the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Canada is signatory, and delivered a statement in the House. Read on..

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Original author: Sun Ottawa Bureau
Source: The Ottawa Sun
URL: N/A
Date: March 8, 2005


OTTAWA -- Families of four terrorist suspects jailed under security certificates made another plea yesterday for the federal government to end its "secret trial" process. The mothers, wives and children made the trek to Parliament Hill to press their case and sat in the House of Commons when NDP MP Alexa McDonough tabled a motion to scrap the "reckless" measure.

"In the short term the five men who have been held, in one case up to five years, under security certificates, should either be charged or they should be released," she said.

Family members said even people charged with crimes like murder and rape have the right to a fair trial.

They urged Prime Minister Paul Martin to bring the men to trial or release them.

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Original author: Sophie Harkat Source: Socialist.ca URL: N/A Date: January 2005 Life without my husband, best friend and HERO.

There is not much to report on our case other then the constant stress and anxiety my husband and family have been under for the past few weeks. My husband's "so called" hearing ended on Dec. 9th, 2004 and the decision in his case is still pending. Judge Eleanor Dawson from the Federal Court will be making a decision based on "reasonable grounds to believe" that my husband is associated to terrorism or MIGHT be associated in the future. The ruling is not based on concrete evidence or facts. We have never seen the evidence CSIS has gathered on my husband for national security reasons. We, and our legal team have been in the dark since his arrest.

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Original author: Campbell Clark with reports by Canadian Press Source: The Globe and Mail URL: N/A Date: February 22, 2005 Minister considers legislation to reduce indefinite jailing in terrorism cases

OTTAWA - Canada should consider following Britain's lead by reworking the provisions of controversial national security certificates so that people who are deemed security risks but cannot be deported are not jailed indefinitely, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said yesterday. As two committees reviewing post-Sept. 9, 2001, anti-terrorism legislation raise questions about the controversial use of security certificates, Mr. Cotler said the compromises proposed in Britain might be useful here. Britain's so-called control measures include house arrest and a variety of conditions that include curfews, restrictions on using telephones and other communication devices, and the use of electronic-tagging devices, such as ankle bracelets.

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Check out this new report about Canada's security certificate process author by The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association: HERE

Original author: Nelson Wyatt
Source: Macleans.ca
URL: [link]
Date: February 22, 2005


MONTREAL (CP) - A suspected terrorist suggested Tuesday he's being set up by Canadian intelligence agents working behind the scenes with Moroccan authorities.

Adil Charkaoui criticized the Canadian Security Intelligence Service after federal government lawyers denied a Radio-Canada report that Moroccan authorities had issued an arrest warrant for the 31-year-old last September.

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Original author: Canadian Press (CP) Source: The National Post URL: [link] Date: February 21, 2005

OTTAWA (CP) - Special police and judicial powers granted three years ago to combat terrorism are still needed, even though most of them have never been used, says Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. "The whole purpose of anti-terrorism laws is to ensure that terrorist acts don't take place to begin with," Cotler said Monday after appearing at a Senate committee. He was testifying there on federal legislation that was rushed into law in December 2001, less than three months after the attacks by Islamic extremists on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The law gave Canadian police the power to make arrests without warrant and to hold suspects without charge if they believe a terrorist act is imminent. Suspects can also be compelled to testify before a judge about what they know of terrorist plans, rather than remaining silent as is their normal right. The arrest and detention powers have never been used and there has been only one attempt to compel testimony since the law was passed. But Cotler said that's no reason to do away with the powers that raised an outcry among civil libertarians when they were enacted. "My position at this point is that those provisions, even if we have not had to have resort to them, are still required," said Cotler. As a backbench Liberal MP in 2001, Cotler expressed concern about the powers and lobbied successfully for a sunset clause that would see them lapse after five years. That term won't run out until 2006. Many other provisions of the law are up for examination now, as part of a separate three-year review written into the legislation. © The Canadian Press 2005

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