In a ten-hour session on Monday, 11 February, the Senate heard 24 witnesses, in a ten-hour session. All but one of the witnesses - Stockwell Day - spoke against the bill. Transcripts of the hearings (unedited), including powerful statements made by Matthew Behrens of the Toronto-based Campaign to Stop Secret Trials, Adil Charkaoui, and Mohamed Harkat, can be downloaded here.

After some hand-wringing, which only served to demonstrate that they knew exactly what they were doing, the Senate decided to proceed to third vote. (Their debate and vote can be downloaded here.)

The Senate then voted C-3 through Senate. The law will now go to the governor-general to be signed and will then enter into force.

Once it is law, the government will no doubt try to issue new "security certificates" under the "new" law against all the detainees: for the Jaballahs, this will mean fighting their FOURTH certificate; for Hassan Almrei, the Charkaouis, Mahjoubs, and Harkats, the cycle will begin all over again.

In the coming weeks, we will certainly be calling for more popular actions in solidarity with the detainees and their families who have been subject to this blatant injustice for far, far too long.