By Cristin Schmitz
Source: Lawyer's Weekly Magazine
URL: [link]
Date: September 12, 2008


Canada’s revamped security certificate legislation is under Charter attack by the very lawyers the government hoped would ensure the new law’s constitutionality and credibility — the special advocates.

In an ironic twist of events, two court-appointed special advocates have filed affidavits in Federal Court complaining that they will not be able to properly defend the interests of security certificate detainees at upcoming closed-door judicial reviews which will determine whether secret government evidence proves that the detainees are threats to national security.

The special advocates for three of the five men currently held under security certificates, Gordon Cameron of Ottawa’s Blake Cassels & Graydon and Paul Cavalluzzo of Toronto’s Cavalluzzo Hayes, point to what they contend are overly broad gag rules in s. 85 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

The senior counsel say the gags drastically constrain their communications far beyond what is justifiably necessary to protect the confidentiality of sensitive government information.

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