Documents outline senior federal officials’ discussions on security certificates, alternative measures

posted on January 28, 2011 | in Category Mohamed Harkat | PermaLink

by Mohammed Adam
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: January 27, 2011


OTTAWA — Even as the federal government was aggressively pursuing security certificate cases against Mohamed Harkat and others in court, senior officials were quietly reviewing the system and considering alternatives, newly released access to information documents show.

Highlighting the dilemma facing the government on the controversial security certificate system, the documents show that a number of high-level inter-departmental meetings were held in 2009 and last year to consider changes. The working groups, which included assistant deputy ministers, discussed:

• Alternatives to Removal (of people considered a threat, from Canada).

• Diplomatic Assurances (from countries that they will not torture returned detainees.)

• Evaluation of the Security Certificate Initiative and

• Alternatives to Removal Options in the Criminal Law, an attempt to explore criminal code provisions that could be used against those who pose a threat to the country.

Large sections of the documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, obtained by York University researcher and PhD student Michael Larsen, are heavily redacted. But it is clear that the meetings were seeking new ways to deal with people held under the security certificates.

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