Security Certificates

The insecurity of security certificates

posted on June 08, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: Tamara Lorincz
Source: The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax, NS)
URL: [link] (subscribers only)
Date: June 8, 2005


Today is the national day of action to demand justice for the five Muslim men who have been detained without charges, and face deportation to torture under the security certificate process. Concerned Canadians are calling on the federal government to abolish security certificates, because they deny refugees and permanent residents who are in Canada their fundamental legal and human rights.

Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, sections 7-11, Canadians are guaranteed "the right to life, liberty and security of the person . . . to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure . . . not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned . . . on arrest or detention to be informed promptly of the reasons . . . to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal."

These same rights are also stipulated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, international agreements that Canada claims to endorse. However, these fundamental rights are denied to non-Canadians in Canada under the security certificate process, sections 9, 76-87 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

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CPA condemns security certificates

posted on May 23, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Source: Canadian Peace Alliance URL: [link] Date: April, 2005 Canadian Peace Alliance Position on Immigration Security Certificates

The security certificate is a measure of the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, by which a refugee or permanent resident in Canada can be imprisoned indefinitely without charge on secret evidence, and deported to his/her country of origin, even if such deportation bears a substantial risk of torture or death. A security certificate is signed by two federal cabinet ministers who decide, based on secret intelligence, that a refugee or immigrant is a danger to Canada. Citizens of Canada are not subject to the security certificate process. Neither the person named in a security certificate, nor his/her lawyer, is given access to the precise allegations or provided with the secret evidence against him/her.

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[JUNE 8] Stop Canadian Complicity in Torture: June 8 National Day of Action

posted on May 04, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: Matthew Behrens of The Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada Source: TASC Email List Date: May 4, 2005 (please forward far and wide) Join the June 8 National Day of Action to End Canadian Deportation to Torture and Abolish Secret Trials

The month of June is marked by numerous anniversaries, among them the Canadian ratification of the Convention Against Torture (June 24, 1987) and the signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which forbids torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, slavery or involuntary servitude, arbitrary arrest and detention). Both of them are vitally relevant to the issue of secret trials in Canada and deportation to torture. June 20 is also World Refugee Day. June 26 is the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Both will no doubt be marked with solemn yet hypocritical words of wisdom from Canadian political leaders.

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[TASC] Chasing Down Justice and Seeking a Presumption of Innocence (long)

posted on April 28, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: Matthew Behrens, tasc at web dot ca Source: TASC Email list Date: April 28, 2005 Chasing Down Justice and Seeking a Presumption of Innocence: A Report from the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials

(the update below covers a variety of events which have taken place over the past month). April has been an incredibly busy month for folks working to end secret trials in Canada and Canadian deportations to torture. Benefits mixing Kafka and CSIS, rallies, major educational events, a difficult hunger strike, new revelations about Canadian complicity in torture abroad, a campaign to initiate contact family visits with men detained almost five years without charge or bail, and the first call for the complete abolition of secret trials in Canada from a major international human rights group were just part of the mix during what is often called the cruelest month. In an incident which seemed to typify the nature of our ongoing efforts to chase down some justice, campaign members Rabea Murtaza and Matthew Behrens were standing around in Terminal One at Toronto's international airport on April 22 waiting for their guest, Monia Mazigh, to arrive from Ottawa for an evening talk. While discussing the ups and downs of organizing around such a difficult issue -- one difficulty being that those who sign these certificates and pursue these deportations to torture have always refused to meet with us -- Behrens thought he recognized from behind one Joe Volpe, the current Minister of Detention and Deportation and one half of the duet who signs the secret trial security certificate. Murtaza, perhaps taken aback at her colleague's peculiar manner of recognizing certain public figures, nonetheless took her friend's strange habit in stride and suggested that they chase after him to see if he was the real number. The two sprinted down the long terminal, calling out, "Mr. Volpe, Mr. Volpe." Perhaps recognizing a potential media opportunity, the minister turned around as we approached him with a flyer advertising the upcoming 24 Hours Against Torture vigil at his office, scheduled for June 8-9.

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Today's Demo in Ottawa - A Photo report by YayaCanada

posted on April 21, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

I bring to your attention another great photo report by YayaCanada. HERE

A cold and rainy day in Ottawa didn't stop supporters from coming out and expressing their outrage at Canada's immigration policies which cage refugees like animals in horrible detention centres like Innes Road in Ottawa and Metro West in Toronto, and then after a few years of that they deport them to countries that torture and disappear people. Countries like Syria, Algeria and Egypt. Mohamed Harkat is to be deported to Algeria a country that imprisons Algerian newspaper reporters and publishers for exposing corruption which implicates oil company CEOs and President Abdel Aziz Boutefliqa. Can you imagine the way they will treat someone who Canada says is a "suspected terrorist"? Below is one of Yaya's photos from today's rally. To see more and to read Yaya's comments click on it. Ottawa April 20 2005
photo by Corinne Allan


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[TASC] Secret Trial Detainees Demand Contact Visits with Families

posted on April 06, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: "TASC", tasc at web dot ca Source: TASC Email List Date: April 6, 2005 (please forward far and wide) Human Contact is a Human Right: Demand Monthly Contact Visits for Canada's Secret Trial Detainees:

Mohammad Mahjoub has been able to hug his 2 young children only once in 5 years. Mahmoud Jaballah has six children he is not allowed to kiss or hug. Write or call Ontario's Minister of Community Safety & Correctional Services, Monte Kwinter (see address below), and tell him "Let the children and wives of Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohammad Mahjoub hug their dads and husbands." WHAT'S GOING ON?

Imagine being locked up for years without charge or bail, held on secret evidence, unable to touch, hug or kiss your loved ones. The effect on you is devastating; the effect on your husband or wife and, especially, your young children, is beyond description. Add to this the daily existence of solitary confinement and the threat of deportation to torture, and you have the makings of real, sustained, psychological and emotional torture, both for the detainees and their families. FEDERAL DETAINEES IN PROVINCIAL DETENTION CENTRES

This is the reality for Canada's secret trial detainees and their families. Although the men are federal detainees, they are held in provincial institutions not designed for long-term incarceration.

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'Kafkaesque' Trials Decried

posted on April 06, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: Colin Freeze and Rebecca Caldwell Source: The Globe and Mail URL: [link] Date: April 2, 2005 Pinsent, MacDonald among those raising money for families of alleged terrorists

On Monday night, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Gordon Pinsent and others will take to a downtown Toronto venue and read selections from Franz Kafka's The Trial to raise money for the families of five alleged terrorists. By doing so, these crusaders of Canadian culture will draw a direct parallel between the process used to deport the accused men and the 1925 book chronicling the ordeals of the guiltless Josef K., who in The Trial is arrested, interrogated and finally executed for an alleged crime that is never revealed to him. The Trial helped establish "Kafkaesque" as a synonym for impenetrably oppressive and nightmarish -- and critics have applied the term many times in relation to Canada's controversial security-certificate process. "There's no trial, no evidence; they are there at the minister's pleasure. Their families, meanwhile, are abandoned and living in limbo," said MacDonald in an interview. "There's a very good argument that says that's against Canadian law, that they are being detained illegally, and the security certificate is a bit of a boondoggle. And that's Kafkaesque."

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Amnesty.ca (again) urges action on security certificates

posted on March 30, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Amesty

We have been informed by Hilary Homes of Amnesty International Canada that they have written another statement condemning Canada's security certificate process. It is front page news on their Web site. Take a look: ~~ link expired ~~


In the name of national security

posted on March 30, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: Colin Perkel (Canadian Press) Source: The Ottawa Sun URL: [link] Date: March 27, 2005 In the name of national security Anti-terror measures draw fire
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`Open custody' considered

posted on March 30, 2005 | in Category Security Certificates | PermaLink

Original author: Sean Gordon, Ottawa Bureau
Source: The Toronto Star
URL: [link] (subscribers only)
Date: March 24, 2005


OTTAWA-The federal government is willing to amend its controversial security certificate process to allow the "controlled release" of terrorism suspects who currently face either indefinite detention or deportation to countries where they may be tortured.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said the certificate law, which currently applies only to asylum-seekers and permanent residents, could eventually cover Canadian citizens.

In response to questions from opposition members, Cotler said he would examine changing the security certificate statutes to allow judges to order house arrest, curfews, electronic monitoring and other forms of open custody.

Testifying before Parliament's justice committee, Cotler indicated he is also open to providing for the appointment of independent counsel in security certificate cases.

Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved.

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